Wild Rice Salad

I have been putting off trying Wild Rice in a while, though I’ve been wanting to. My enthusiasm was rekindled when I read about Bee & Jai’s Thai Black Rice pudding and Indira’s Wild rice with eggplant-chole. Both the recipes were simply mouth watering! Don't you agree? Till Bee pointed out I wasnt aware that black rice was different from black wild rice . Thanks for letting me know Bee.

However, lazy me never got around to try until now. Having eaten wild rice as a salad, I wanted to experiment that out first and then move on to including it in the successive courses. Though I didnt quite expect, the outcome was fulfilling. The flavor of the rice was in harmony with its nuttiness as well as the sweetness of the cranberries....not to forget those blanched pine nuts.

Ingredients

¼ Uncooked Wild rice ( Read more on Wild Rice here. )
2 ½ cups water
¼ cup dried Cranberries
¼ cup Pine nuts, blanched ( I avoided toasted as I didn’t want the crunch to interfere with the chewy nature of the wild rice. )
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice. ( I used Navel oranges for this recipe. )
1 teaspoon Olive oil
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Salt to taste



Method

1. Soak wild rice for 30 mins. Cook as recommended on package ( Or) bring to boil ¼ cup wild rice in 2 ½ cups water on HIGH. Cover and simmer for 45 mins or till most of the grains split open. If you are not sure, take a teaspoon of rice and check if the grains are tender to bite.

2. Once done, remove from heat. Drain and add ½ teaspoon of olive oil into the rice. Mix well and set aside.

3. Heat ½ teaspoon of Olive oil in a skillet. Add fresh orange juice and freshly ground black pepper. Allow to simmer for 3- 4 min. Add blanched pine nuts, rice and cook covered for 3-5 min on MEDIUM.

4. Cook uncovered for 3-5 min till most of the liquid is absorbed. Add dried cranberries, toss well.
Serve warm. Its a meal by itself.

This recipe serves 2-3. About ¼ cup of uncooked wild rice is almost equivalent to 2 cups when cooked. I cannot help but agree with what Indira mentioned for every bite requires that you take time to appreciate and relish its flavor.

Bon Appétit!