About a year and a half ago, I posted the recipe for this very colourful salad as an entry to Weekend Herb Blogging. It has been a favourite for 20 odd years and now that I have a picture, thought to show you all how nice it looks. This particular version contains half wild rice and half brown rice and was made for a party where my wife works. The last time she took this along, I had to print out some ten copies of the recipe.

The reason it uses a mixture of brown and wild rice was because last time around, we had nearly run out of wild rice, but the brown rice is also a great way to stretch out the more expensive wild rice. I think both versions have their charm, but prefer the pronounced nuttier flavour of pure wild rice, which to my mind, looks better too; the black, wild rice grains are striking, highlighted by the yellow of the corn and red and green of roasted capsicums.

Okay, I know that wild rice isn't exactly Mexican, but all the other flavours are, you just have to imagine a trading route was established between north and south and that wild rice was traded for chillies - it's what I would've done!

MEXICAN RICE SALAD

1 cup wild rice*
1 green capsicum
1 red capsicum
2 cobs corn
1 or 2 bird's eye chilies, finely chopped
1 or 2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 bunch coriander, washed and chopped, leaves & stems
6 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
salt & pepper

Put the wild rice in a pot, cover with salted water and simmer for about 40 minutes or until tender. While the rice is cooking, char the skin of the two capsicums, place in a covered bowl for 10 minutes to loosen the skin, then peel and cut into small dice. Cook the corn cobs your favourite way, I simply place the unpeeled cobs in the microwave and blast them for about 5 minutes on full power. When cooked peel the husks, remove the silk and standing the cob on your cutting board, cut the kernels off. Whisk or shake the olive oil and red wine vinegar to emulsify. When the wild rice is cooked, drain and place in a bowl while still hot. Add the diced capsicum, corn kernels, coriander, garlic, chile and dressing, then season and thoroughly mix. Cool to room temperature and serve.

* half wild rice and half brown rice is also very good.

Labels: mexican rice salad