Sweet Wild Rice Salad with Maple Dressing

This salad always goes down a treat at the New Year celebrations.

I like to use red and yellow peppers for their sweetness and tend to avoid green peppers due to their bitter and slightly harsher flavours. They also add a delicious crunch to the salad that perfectly breaks through the softer textures the other ingredients provide.

I chose Braeburn apples for the salad due to their sweet-tart flavour. They perfectly complement the sweet and savoury elements of this dish and add a nice balance between the two, ensuring it doesn't become too sweet. The spring onion, dill and red onion tip the dish away from the sweet so that - while remaining quite a sweet dish - it is still enjoyable alongside other, more savoury dishes.

And of course the maple syrup adds a sharper, candied taste to the dish.

Ultimately, you can use whatever rice you want but I opted for wild rice, which surprisingly is not a rice at all but a grain. It has a chewier flavour and adds an interesting texture to the salad. It's also got a little bit of an earthy, grassy flavour which makes the dish all the more exciting. To round it all off, the wild rice makes the salad all the healthier - it is very high in protein and low in fat. In fact, it is second only to oats in terms of protein count per 100 calories. And, like ordinary rice, it does not contain gluten.

It's a great dish for potlucks, celebrations or even as a snack!

Comment below if you give the dish a try and let me know if you think it can be improved! I'd love to hear your suggestions!

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Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 x mug of wild and basmati rice

• 2 x mug of water

• 1 x red bell pepper

• 1 x yellow bell pepper

• 1 x apple

• half a red onion

• handful of fresh dill

• 2 x spring onions

• 2 tbsp of maple syrup

• 2 tsp of olive oil

• 1 tsp of Dijon mustard (optional)

• 1 tbsp of apple cider (optional)

Method

1. Place the rice in a medium pot and add the water. Bring to a rolling boil then reduce heat to low until the rice is cooked completely. Drain and set aside to cool.

2. Prepare the fruit and veg. Dice the bell peppers and slice both the apple and red onion into short segments. Add the fruit and veg to a mixing bowl.

3. Add the rice to the bowl when it has cooled completely. Mix the ingredients together and add to a serving dish.

4. Chop the spring onions and fresh dill. Sprinkle them on top of the rice.

5. To make the dressing, mix together the maple syrup, olive oil, apple cider (optional) and mustard (optional) in a bowl until roughly incorporated. Drizzle over the rice salad and serve.