Wild Rice and Sweet Potato Salad

Wild Rice and Sweet Potato Salad

This salad comes from the North American chapter of From My Modern Kitchen, the book where I cook the food I have picked up along the way rather than the food I grew up on. It is sweet potato roasted until it is tender and browned at the corners, a wild rice blend, raw peppers and a lot of fresh herbs, with a chili lime vinaigrette poured over while the sweet potato is still warm.

Wild rice deserves a word of its own, because it is not rice. It is the seed of a tall grass that grows standing in shallow fresh water. It has been gathered by canoe for centuries in the Great Lakes region, the belt of five huge freshwater lakes on the border between the northern United States and Canada. It cooks up chewier and nuttier than rice does, and it is the reason this salad keeps its texture instead of going soft.

I make this whenever there is a barbecue on or a big group coming to the house. It is filling enough to eat on its own, and it works just as well beside everything else on the table. What carries it is the dressing, the vinegar and lime and chili pushing back against the sweetness of the potato. A salad that is warm and properly seasoned is my favorite kind, and this is the one I keep coming back to.

Serve it warm or cold. It keeps for days in the fridge, which makes it worth making the day before on purpose.

Wild Rice and Sweet Potato Salad

Dalal AlJaser

Servings

4

Prep Time

20 minutes

Cook Time

30 minutes

Cuisine

North American

Category

Salad

A bright, filling salad built on roasted sweet potato and a wild rice blend, with carrot, celery, three colors of pepper, red onion and a lot of cilantro and parsley. The chili lime vinaigrette goes on while the sweet potato is still warm so it soaks in. Good warm, good cold, and better the next day. From my cookbook From My Modern Kitchen.

Wild Rice and Sweet Potato Salad

Ingredients

    Roasted sweet potato:

    • 4 cups sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes (about 600 g, roughly 1 large or 2 small)
    • 1 tbsp olive oil
    • Salt and black pepper

    Salad:

    • ¾ cup uncooked wild rice blend (about 150 g)
    • 1 carrot, peeled and grated
    • 1 celery stalk, finely chopped
    • 1 red bell pepper, diced
    • 1 yellow bell pepper, diced
    • 1 green bell pepper, diced
    • ¼ cup red onion, finely chopped
    • ½ cup cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
    • ½ cup parsley leaves, roughly chopped

    Chili lime vinaigrette:

    • 3 tbsp olive oil
    • 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
    • 2 tsp lime juice
    • 1 tsp chili powder, or fajita or taco seasoning
    • 2 tsp honey (maple syrup for a vegan version)
    • 2 garlic cloves, minced
    • ½ tsp salt

    Directions

    1. Heat the oven to 218°C (425°F).

    2. Toss the sweet potato cubes with the olive oil, salt and pepper until evenly coated.

    3. Spread them on a baking sheet in a single layer.

    4. Roast for 25 to 30 minutes, until tender and lightly browned, turning them after the first 15 minutes so they color evenly. Take them out and let them cool.

    5. Meanwhile cook the wild rice according to the package instructions until tender. Drain off any excess water and let it cool completely.

    6. Put all the vinaigrette ingredients in a jar with a tight lid and shake hard until it comes together.

    7. In a large bowl combine the cooled sweet potato, the cooked wild rice, the grated carrot, celery, all three peppers, red onion, cilantro and parsley.

    8. Pour the vinaigrette over and toss until everything is coated.

    9. Serve warm or chilled. Bil Afya!
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