Real Food, Day 1: Wild Rice & Chickpea Salad

Our first meal during Real Food February was lemon baked catfish, steamed broccoli, and wild rice and chickpea salad. Yum. I thought I'd share the recipe for the wild rice and chickpea--it was new to us and we'll definitely be making it again. I think it would be really good with a dish like chicken tikka masala. It has a hint of curry in the sauce.

Wild Rice & Chickpea Salad

adapted from The Pastry Queen by Rebecca Rather

Ingredients:

1.5 cups wild rice

1 Tbsp. sea salt

2.5 Tbsp. lemon juice

2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar

1 Tbsp. dijon mustard

1 tsp. curry powder

1 Tbsp. honey

1 Tbsp. ground cumin

pinch of cayenne pepper

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 (15 oz.) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

3 small green onions, diced

1/4 cup raisins, golden raisins, dried cranberries, dried apricots, etc. (whatever you have on hand)

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Prepare wild rice according to package directions, or in a rice cooker.

2. In a large bowl, whisk the lemon juice, vinegar, mustard, honey, curry powder, cumin, and cayenne. Add olive oil and whisk until combined. Toss in the chickpeas, green onions, dried fruit, and wild rice. Season the salad with salt and pepper. Serve at room temperature.

Enjoy!

My plan is to have a post for each day--at least one recipe per post. I may have to double up posts until I catch up, seeing as how I am just getting started on posts on day #5...