Wild Rice and Mango Salad

My newest obsession (besides cooking magazines and spinach, of course) is whole grains. I’m loving the renewed interest in whole grains and the way it’s showing up in magazines and in my local grocery store. That said, I love a good cold grain salad. Quinoa, barley, farro… bring it on. I love it all. There’s just something about whole grains, you know? They’re high in fiber and protein, and I like knowing that they’ve gone through minimal processing.

In my neck of the woods, mangos are on sale right now, so I made this yummy salad over the weekend. It keeps well in the fridge for a few days, so if you see mangos at a reasonable price, hopefully this is at the top of your list of what to do with them! Trust – you won’t regret it.

Definitely check out the linked website above and make sure you’re trying out all the new grains to hit your local grocery store!

Wild Rice and Mango Salad

Adapted from the Vegetarian Times July 2005 issue

Ingredients:

• 1 cup wild rice
• 1/3 cup fresh orange juice
• 1/8 cup olive oil or canola oil
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• salt and pepper
• 2 ripe, firm mangoes, peeled and diced
• 1 medium-sized red bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 cup diced red onion
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Cook wild rice. If using packaged rice, cook according to package directions. If using bulk rice, bring a large pot of unsalted water to a boil over medium-high heat. Add wild rice, cover, and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook for 45 minutes, or until chewy and starting to split. Drain and set out to cool. 

To assemble dressing, whisk together orange juice, oil, cumin, and garlic together in the bottom of the serving bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Dice peppers, onions, and mango. If you’ve never diced a mango before, this guy will teach you. However, instead of inverting the mango half and cutting the chunks out like that, I recommend spooning the mango slices out, like you would an avocado, like so:

To assemble salad, add cooled wild rice, red pepper, mango, red onion, and cilantro to serving bowl. Toss until salad is properly coated with dressing. At this point, I prefer to let this salad sit in the fridge until serving. A 30-minute time out will let the flavors develop in the salad. But it will still knock your socks off if you don’t have the time.

Playing in the Kitchenette: She & Him/I Was Made for You