Grilled Vegetables Wild Rice Salad

Wild Rice has splendid qualities that would make any diet-conscious go wild about them.It out beats brown rice in protein and richness of minerals.See the comparative nutritional values here. The unusual conditions it grows "wild" in isolated lake and river bed areas mostly in Wisconsin and California and laboriously harvested in Canoes,makes this a rare and expensive grain.Wild rice was of immense important produce to Native Americans.
I was delighted to find a small box of this amazing grain in a natural food store,though I can't afford to buy it as often as brown or white rice,I'll reserve this for some very special dishes like this Salad with juicy grilled vegetables.It takes longer to cook this whole grain when compared to white rice,soaking for 15-20minutes can lessen the cooking time.Mix with other grains and relish them in soups,salads,Casseroles and Pilafs.

Recipe
Serves 2
Ingredients
1/2 cup wild rice
1/2 cup brown rice

Vegetables
1 small zucchini
1 small yellow squash
1 small red\green pepper
1 medium Onion
use any other summer fresh vegetables like asparagus or corn
Marinade
1 tablespoon Olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of dry herbs,rosemary or thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon chilly powder

Salad Dressing
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon dry herbs and spices mix
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 cups of fresh dark greens,chopped(I used Beet greens)

Method
Cook the rice
Wash and soak the rice in cold water for 15 minutes.Cook in 2 cups of water,season with salt,until cooked through,35-40 minutes.Keep aside

Grill or Bake
If using bamboo skewers cut the peppers and onions to smaller size squares or cut in to strips otherwise.Combine all the marinade ingredients. Transfer all the vegetables in large bowl and toss them with the marinade. Set aside for 10 minutes.
Heat your grill or grill pan on medium high heat.
Either thread the vegetables on the bamboo skewers or simply place on heated grill about 6-8 minutes. or Bake in 400F oven for 15-20 minutes.

Prepare the dressing
Whisk together all the dressing ingredients in big salad bowl.Stir in cooked rice,grilled vegetables,combine well.Finally mix in the dark greens.Serve.


This wholesome grain salad is off to No Croutons Required :Grains over at Lisa's Blog.

Show me Your Breakfast.
Muffins ,home made granola ,pancakes or scones with fresh seasonal fruit along with Eggs and cuppa hot coffee or green tea is my usual breakfast.I'm glad to sharing this breakfast with Divya at Dil Se...


Whole grain Fruit Chocolate Muffins,Scrambled Organic eggs and Instant Coffee.And a ray of sunshine adds to the warmth.