Curried Rice Salad

I had some wild rice mix hanging around in my cupboard and found this easy recipe in my Forks Over Knives cookbook that looked pretty interesting.  The sweetness of the dried fruit contrasts with the pungent curry flavor and goes nicely with the orange.  Be warned, I only used 1/2 of the jalapeño and it was almost too hot for us, see my note at the end for substitution ideas.  Serve this salad on a bed of greens-such as spinach, arugula, or field greens-for a nice lunch or a unique summer potluck offering.

Ingredients:
2 cups brown basmati rice (or wild rice)
2 oranges (fruit wedges from one, zest and juice from the second)
¼ cup brown rice vinegar
¼ cup brown rice syrup
½ cup dried raisins
6 green onions (white and green parts), finely chopped
½ small red onion, peeled and minced
1 jalapeño pepper, minced (for less heat, remove the seeds) 
¼ cup chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon curry powder
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Rinse the rice under cold water and drain. Add it to a pot with 4 cups of cold water.  Bring it to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to medium, and cook, covered, for 45 to 50 minutes, or until the rice is tender.
2. While the rice is cooking, combine the orange zest and juice, brown rice vinegar, brown rice syrup, currants, green onions, red onion, jalapeño pepper, curry powder, cilantro, orange wedges and salt and pepper in a large bowl and mix well. When the rice is finished cooking. add the rice to the bowl and mix well.

Enjoy!

*Note: I used 1/2 of the jalapeño and it was on the verge of being too spicy.  In the future I might try using an Anaheim or Poblano pepper instead, maybe even roasting it as well first.  This would still provide the great pepper taste, but with a lot less heat!