Wild Rice Cranberry Pecan Salad

When I first started this blog I didn’t have a camera to take pictures with…and then I had a camera but wasn’t very good at taking pics.  I’ve definitely gotten better over time (I’ve been at this for almost 3.5 years!) but have a lot to learn too…I’ve been thinking of a camera upgrade as well…Santa??

So I’m going to go back and start updating some old posts…with new pics!  Starting with this one.

 

I’ve served this salad twice…first to the senior dancers at Tari’s Christmas party.  And then again for Hilary's graduation/Christmas party for over 100 people. I had to make a lot for this one…recipe times 10?!

This was back in 2008, and I don’t know if I’ve made it since!  Both times it was a hit though!

I buy a wild rice and brown basmati rice blend in the bulk section of Whole Foods. Both are whole grains. If you can't find a blend, just substitute brown rice and wild rice in a 3:1 ratio (¾ cup brown and ¼ cup wild).

This salad is more of a method than a recipe...you could swap out any of the ingredients (a different grain, nut, fruit, vegetable...the sky's the limit.  Using orange zest and juice would be really good too! 

Today I ate it over lettuce and added turkey salad and broccoli crunch from Whole Foods…sooooo good!  Double the dressing for the rice and save half to dress the salad!

Wild Rice Cranberry Pecan Salad
adapted from simplyrecipes.com

Makes 10 ½-cup servings

1 cup brown rice wild rice mix
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup dried cranberries, coarsely chopped
½ cup pecans, toasted and chopped
½ cup green onions, thinly sliced
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup olive oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon lemon zest
Salt and pepper

Cook rice according to package instructions, omitting fat and adding 1/2 teaspoon salt. Here is the method I used:

Rinse rice. Put all ingredients (1 cup rice, 2 cups water, 1/2 teaspoon salt) in pot with tight-fitting lid. Stir, bring to boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer 45 minutes. Do not remove lid. Remove from heat and allow to sit covered for 10 minutes. Then uncover, fluff with a fork, and let cool to almost room temperature.

In a medium sized bowl, combine the cooled rice, cranberries, pecans, and green onions.

In a separate jar, mix the lemon juice, olive oil, sugar, lemon zest, and salt and pepper to taste.

Combine dressing with the rice mixture. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours to allow the flavors to blend. Serve warm, chilled, or room temperature.

Per serving - 168 calories, 10 g fat (1 g saturated), 19 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 3g protein (exchanges: 2 fat, 1 starch)

Shrimp and Mango Curry with Mango Cashew Rice

For my dietetic internship in Houston, one of the rotations was with Supermarket Savvy.  I researched and wrote articles on food and nutrition for the monthly newsletter.  I loved it!  One of the added perks was a lunch meeting and cooking demo with Chef Allen Susser, the author of The Great Mango Book.  On the menu?  A mango lassi, crab and mango salad, shrimp and mango curry, mango macadamia rice, and a mango fool for dessert.  Its a good think I like mangos!

My favorite variety of mango, the Champagne or ataulfo mango, is in season right now.  I can find them a Whole Foods here in Baton Rouge and this past weekend at Publix in Florida.  According to the website this variety is:

“more compact compared to other varieties, it has a kidney-shaped form, with a skin that turns from green to a deep golden yellow when fully ripe. The inside is velvety smooth, with almost no fibrous texture, unlike other varieties, and a much thinner pit (about the thickness of a wafer). The taste is intensely sweet and full”

And although you really don’t need one, this is my mango peeler…another “treat” from the luncheon (along with a copy of his book).

The spicy-sweet curry has been calling my name ever since…how have a waited this long?  I’ve also been wanting to try the red rice Danielle brought me from Thailand, so I went with the mango cashew rice as well…I swapped the macadamias for cashews.

The rice recipe called for a few spices that I didn’t already have in my (previously thought) well stocked spice cabinet…cardamom and saffron.  It was my first time cooking with both.  Saffron are these tiny red threads from the stigma of a flower…they impart flavor and color (yellow) to the dish…although the red rice masked the yellow color in mine.
    
You could skip the rice recipe (and all its fancy spices) and just cook some plain ol’ white rice (or brown if you want to be healthier)…but don’t skip the curry!  It is delish!  And spicy…the original recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne, which I think is A LOT!  I used just a pinch (prob less than 1/8 of a teaspoon) and my mouth still burns a little.  I must have really strong cayenne powder. 


Mango Cashew Rice
adapted from The Great Mango Book or the National Mango Board

makes 12 servings

1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup cashews (or macadamia nuts)
5 whole black peppercorns (or just 1/4 teaspoon black pepper)
2 whole cloves (or less than 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves)
2 cardamom pods
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups Basmati rice (or white rice)
1/2 teaspoon saffron, soaked in 1 tablespoon hot water
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups water
1 ripe mango, peeled, pitted, and diced
1/4 cup raisins (golden or brown)
3 green onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add nuts and continuously shake pan until nuts are golden brown. Remove nuts from pan with a slotted spoon, keeping oil in the pan, and set aside.

Add all spices (pepper through cinnamon) to the same pan and stir constantly until aromatic, about 2 minutes.

Stir rice into spice mixture. Add saffron and salt, stirring until rice is well coated. Add water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes or until liquid has been absorbed.

Remove from heat and stir in mango, raisins and toasted nuts. Cover and let stand for 5 minutes.

At this point you can add all of the onions and cilantro to the rice mixture, or alternately, garnish each serving individually.

Per Serving (about 3/4 cup) – 168 calories, 3 g fat (1 g saturated), 32 g carbohydrates, 1 g fiber, 3 g protein (exchanges: 2 starch, 1/2 fat; WW points: 3)



Shrimp and Mango Curry
adapted from The Great Mango Book or the National Mango Board

makes 8 servings

1 tablespoons unsalted butter (or oil)
1 small onion, diced
1 cloves garlic, minced 
3 tablespoons curry powder
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
2 teaspoons salt
a pinch to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 15-oz can light coconut milk
2 cups water
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 ripe mangos, peeled, pitted and diced
2 medium sweet potato, diced and boiled or steamed until tender and quickly chilled*
4 tablespoons minced green onion (white and green parts)
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Melt butter in a large heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté until aromatic, about 3 minutes. Stir in curry powder, ginger, salt, cayenne and black pepper. Add coconut milk and water; bring to a simmer and cook for 2 minutes.  Add half of the sweet potatoes and simmer until thickened, about 10 minutes.

Add shrimp, mango and remaining sweet potato to saucepan; bring back to a simmer and cook for 4 to 5 minutes more or until shrimp are pink. Stir in green onion and cilantro and serve.

Per serving (about 1 cup) – 174 calories, 6 g fat (4 g saturated), 18 g carbohydrates, 3 g fiber, 13 g protein (exchanges: 1 fat, 1/2 starch, 1 1/2 protein, 1/2 fruit; WW points: 3)

* I steamed the sweet potato in the microwave in a covered glass dish with a little water at 3 minute intervals until tender (about 9 minutes total).  I drained them in a colander and then ran cool water over them.

Tip – I store my ginger in the freezer in a zip-top bag.  When I need some for a recipe, I take it out, peel back some of the skin with a vegetable peeler and then grate it with a Microplane directly into the dish.  It goes well with anything Asian such as Indian Lentil Coconut Soup, Chicken Sate with Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce, Shrimp Summer Rolls, and Asian Beef Lettuce Wraps.

Lagniappe...more mango recipes!

PS…this is my 100th post!

Jambalaya with Shrimp and Ham/Sausage

This week's CEiMB recipe is jambalaya, a dish I'm very familiar with considering that I'm a born and raised Louisiana girl. You can't go to an LSU football tailgate without being offered a bowl. And every "tailgate chef" thinks his or her recipe is the best!

That being said, I have never actually made jambalaya! That's almost sacrilegious!

So, thanks to Anonymous New York (who selected this recipe), I can now stand proud and say I have conquered this traditional Louisiana dish (and with a lighter version). Compare it to your standard jambalaya recipe (if you have one)...how could you adapt your version to make it lighter? Use less oil? Add more veggies per cup of rice (Ellie's has a ratio of 4:1)? Use more lean protein (chicken/turkey breast, seafood) and less fatty protein (sausage)?

Jambalaya with Shrimp and Ham -

• Per serving - 440 calories, 9 g fat (2 g saturated), 50 g carbohydrates, 3 g fiber, 38 g protein (exchanges: 2 fats, 1 vegetable, 2 1/2 starches, 5 protein)
• Notes - I made a few changes/additions...I added a cup of diced celery (you can't make jambalaya without the "trinity"), swapped the onion for leeks (I already had them in the fridge), used turkey andouille sausage instead of ham, used fresh oregano/thyme instead of dry (I have these herbs growing at my house and I used 3 times as much...dried herbs are more potent than fresh), and used boiled shrimp instead of raw (they were on sale at WholeFoods...already peeled, devained, and cooked - I couldn't resist); I was tempted to try the recipe with brown rice, but after reading the reviews, I decided not to (maybe next time); note the serving size (2 cups)...that's a lot of jambalaya in my opinion...so if you wanted to, eat a little less and fill up on a salad
• Tips - I cut my shrimp in half to make them bite size (they were pretty big) and to give each serving more bites of shrimp; if at the end of the cooking time, your rice is still slightly crunchy (mine was) add a little more stock or water, and cook for a while longer;
• My Thoughts - There are 2 versions of jambalaya in Louisiana, those that use tomatoes and stock (the Creole-style "red" version) and those only use stock (the Cajun-style "brown" version)...after trying this recipe, I think I prefer the Cajun-style; I'm not sure if it was because I didn't measure the cayenne well, but it was really spicy, so you may want to add less at first; I'm also not sure about the paprika...there was an "unexpected" flavor and this might be it; All this said, I'm just being picky/critical...it is really good, and you should give it a try!

Wild Rice Cranberry Pecan Salad

(This post has been updated here)

I served this salad as a trial run at my party Sunday night...the real event is Hilary's graduation/Christmas party this coming Sunday for over 100 people. Needless to say, I will have to make a very large batch!

I bought a wild rice and brown basmati rice blend in the bulk section of Whole Foods. Both are whole grains. If you can't find a blend, just substitute brown rice and wild rice in a 3:1 ratio (¾ cup brown and ¼ cup wild).

This is meant to be a side dish and therefore it makes 10 small servings...you could add some lean protein to it (chopped chicken or turkey) and serve it as a main course. In that case, I would figure 5 or 6 servings.

Wild Rice Cranberry Pecan Salad

adapted from simplyrecipes.com

Makes 10 ½-cup servings

1 cup brown rice wild rice mix

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup dried cranberries, coarsely chopped

½ cup pecans, toasted and chopped

½ cup green onions, thinly sliced

¼ cup lemon juice

¼ cup olive oil

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon lemon zest

Salt and pepper

Cook rice according to package instructions, omitting fat and adding 1/2 tsp salt. Here is the method I used:

Rinse rice. Put all ingredients (1 cup rice, 2 cups water, 1/2 tsp salt) in pot with tight-fitting lid. Stir, bring to boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer 45 minutes. Do not remove lid. Remove from heat and allow to sit covered for 10 minutes. Then uncover, fluff with a fork, and let cool to almost room temperature.

In a medium sized bowl, combine the cooled rice, cranberries, pecans, and green onions.

In a separate jar, mix the lemon juice, olive oil, sugar, lemon zest, and salt and pepper to taste.

Combine dressing with the rice mixture. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours to allow the flavors to blend. Serve warm, chilled, or room temperature.

Per serving - 168 calories, 10 g fat (1 g saturated), 19 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 3g protein (exchanges: 2 fat, 1 starch)

Notes - You could swap the lemon juice and zest for orange; omitting all or half of the pecans would save a few fat grams; this salad is more of a method than a recipe...you could substitute any of the ingredients (a different grain, nut, fruit, vegetable...the sky's the limit); I like serving grain salads over lettuce - I would double the dressing for the rice, saving half to drizzle over the lettuce (or to use with another salad)