Tangy Cashew Wild Rice

This salad of brown rice and wild rice mixed with leeks, celery, yams, and red peppers offers a colorful and savory combination. After you add the cashews, apricots, and celery seed, the result is a mixture of sweet and crunchy that is at once familiar and surprising with its hard-to-identify and delightful spices. This salad has pretty much everything you could want.

11/2 cups hand-parched wild rice cooked in 3 cups water

11/2 cups brown rice cooked in 3 cups water

2 yams, peeled and diced into 1-inch pieces

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 leeks, rinsed and sliced thinly on the diagonal

4 stalks celery, sliced thinly on the diagonal

2 medium red bell peppers, sliced into thin strips (optional)

1 cup toasted cashews or other nuts

1 cup dried apricots, chopped

DRESSING:
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons celery seed
• 1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 1/2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 1/3 cup cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons salt

• While the cooked rice cools, steam the yams until tender in a vegetable steamer set over water.
• Heat the oils in a large, heavy skillet and sauté the leeks, celery, peppers, and steamed yams.
• In a small bowl, mix together the dressing ingredients.
• Combine the sautéed vegetables with the rice and add the toasted nuts and chopped apricots.
• Pour the dressing over the rice and vegetable combination and mix thoroughly.
• This dish can be served warm, at room temperature, or cold. It keeps well in the refrigerator.

SERVES 10 TO 1 2