Wild Rice and Farro Salad with Coriander Vinaigrette

Wild rice and faro salad with coriander vinaigrette offers warm flavours and a hearty feel.

This is a salad full of flavours and textures: The farro is slightly chewy, the nuts or seeds have some crunch and the brightly spiced vinaigrette has a wonderful exotic flavour.

On these chilly dark days I have been craving hearty, whole grain salads. The sort of salad that sticks with you in a warming sort of way.

That’s what got me thinking about wild rice and faro salad with coriander vinaigrette.

It’s a salad that seems to suit fall with its warm flavours and hearty feel. If you’d like to make it even more substantial add some lentils or feta.

The recipe comes from my friend Kara. It’s, a dish that she served one summer evening at her cottage. It suited summer too, but now that it’s November I can’t help but think how well-suited it is to cool weather.

This salad can be served warm or at room temperature.

Green tip:

Look for unpasteurized, unfiltered cider vinegar that still contains the “mother” (the swirl of pulp-looking stuff in the bottom of the jar.) It’s extra healthy and very natural.
Almonds are a nice treat but pumpkin and sunflower seeds are more environmentally friendly. (Most almonds come from California. They’re a lucrative crop that takes more than its fair share of water in that drought-ridden state. Read more here.)

Wild Rice and Farro Salad with Coriander Vinaigrette

Serves 6-8

1 cup wild rice, rinsed and drained

1 cup farro, hulled barley, or pot barley

1 cup minced red onion

½ cup parsley, chopped

¼ cup currants or dried cranberries

½ cup toasted almonds, sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds

Coriander Vinaigrette:

¼ cup vinegar (cider vinegar or sherry vinegar)

¼ cup olive oil

1 tsp. fancy molasses

1 tsp. ground coriander

1 tsp. ground cumin

½ tsp. ground turmeric

¼ tsp. ground cinnamon

Sea salt & pepper, to taste

Instructions:

Combine wild rice in a pot with 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cover. Cook until tender then drain.
Combine farro with 2 cups water in a heavy pot. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer until tender (but still chewy), about 40 minutes.
In a small bowl or jar whisk together dressing ingredients.
Add currants to dressing and let rest while you prepare the remaining salad ingredients.
In a large bowl toss cooked rice with farro and dressing.
Fold in onion and parsley and sprinkle with almonds.
Season with salt and pepper.

Serve alongside a simple green salad.