As a vegetarian I’m often charged with bringing a non-meat dish to gatherings. This is one of my favourites. It’s full of tasty whole grains, sweet dried fruit, savory onions & spices, and toasted pecans. It’s finished off with a drizzling of olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada) and butter for richness and general tastiness.
This salad is also wonderfully flexible. You can use different grains, any dried fruit you like, and any nuts or seeds you have on hand. Spice it how you like, and you’re off to the races. The leftovers are also great, which is always a plus, because I find I always make more of this than can be eaten at one meal.
Brown Rice & Amaranth Salad
2L water or vegetable stock
1 cup brown rice, rinsed
2/4 cup amaranth, rinsed1 vegetable stock cube (if you didn’t use stock to start with)
2/3 cup chopped assorted dried fruit
1 tbsp olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada)
1/2 onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
Salt & pepper
¼ tsp ground coriander
1 spring rosemary
¾ cup chopped pecans3 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada)Bring the water or vegetable broth to a rolling boil. Add the brown rice and boil for 15 minutes. Add the amaranth to the pot and boil for another 5. Add the broth cube (if you didn’t use broth to start with) and boil for another 10, for a total of 30 minutes of boiling.
Dump the mixture into a sieve and drain for 10 seconds before dumping back into the pot and cover with the lid. There will be some water left in the rice/amaranth mixture, but that’s the point. Leave the mixture sealed in the pot to finish cooking by steam.
Heat some olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada) over medium heat in a cast iron skillet. Sauté the onion and garlic with the salt, pepper, coriander, rosemary, and pecans. Once fragrant, stir the mixture into the rice and amaranth along with the chopped dried fruit.
Add the butter and olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada) to the skillet. Melt and heat through, and stir into the grains.
Serve warm or cold, and enjoy!
