Wild Rice Salad

A refreshing wild rice salad packed with vitamins and nutrients!

Have you ever tried wild rice before? Contrary to its name, wild rice is a species of grass and not a rice! The rice grows in the water and is mainly grown in America. It’s a rich in antioxidants grain that has a nutty texture and flavour.

Wild rice is gluten free like true rice and it’s high in protein, amino acid, fiber, vitamin B, and is low in fat. If you compare wild rice to other kinds of rice, wild rice is high in protein and carbs, but low in calories which helps stabilise your metabolism. In 1 cup of cooked wild rice (165 grams) there are only 166 calories and 6.5 grams of protein.

Wild rice takes longer than usual rice to cook, so for every 1 cup of uncooked rice add 6 cups of water (and a tsp of salt). Let it boil for a minute, then reduce the heat and let is simmer for about 40 minutes or until the water is gone. There are many ways to eat wild rice, I like to have it for breakfast as a rice pudding, in a salad or in a creamy soup!

Every 1 cup of uncooked wild rice will typically yield about 3-4 cups of rice after cooking.

To rinse off the wild rice (and any grains that I usually cook), I use my OXO Good Grips colander. This colander is specially designed to wash and rinse grains, such as quinoa, farro, barley or rice. I find it very useful as even the smallest grains contained, so it’s easy to wash them from starch and drain in ease. The small square holes prevent tiny grains from falling through and slow down the water flow.

I don’t even know how did I wash my grains before I got my OXO colander, I only have a vegetable colander which doesn’t work for grains as it has huge holes. And I ended up washing my grains in the pot, where half of the starchy water would stay, and some of my grains would fall in the sink. The OXO Colander retails for £10 on their website, so make sure to pop over to the website to take a look, and you will also find a lot of great items on there.

Now to tell you more about OXO Good Grips, this award winning brand offers a wide range of stylish yet practical tools for your home. And that includes kitchenware, organisational tools, bathroom and cleaning products. When I go on their website, I start drooling over all of their products (yes that’s right I love the brand!).

A tip on how to store wild rice – it’s better to store uncooked wild rice in an airtight container. Cooked, drained and covered rice can be kept in the refrigerator for up to a week, and in the freezer for up to six months! And this makes wild rice perfect for meal planning.

What’s your favourite kind of rice? I also like brown and black rice, but wild rice is definitely my favourite!

Wild Rice Salad

5 from 7 votes

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Author: Diana

Ingredients

• ▢ ½ cup wild rice
• ▢ 1 cucumber chopped
• ▢ 1 to mato chopped)
• ▢ ½ cup kidney beans canned
• ▢ ½ cup sweet corn canned
• ▢ juice of half a lemon
• ▢ salt
• ▢ 2 tbsp olive oil

Instructions

• To cook the wild rice, add 1 ½ cups of water to ½ cup of uncooked rice. Fill a pot with water, then add the rice, and a pinch of salt. Cover with lid and let it boil for a minute.
• Reduce the heat, and let it simmer for 40-50 minutes.
• When the water is gone, fluff the rice with a fork and set aside.
• Mix all of the salad ingredients in a bowl, add lemon juice, olive oil, and salt. Enjoy!

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 This post is sponsored by OXO Good Grips. Thank you for supporting the brands that make Little Sunny Kitchen happen. All opinions are my own.