Mediterranean wild rice salad with Moroccan char grilled chicken

By cheffeur on 04 January 2011 | Viewed 4932 times

When it comes to catering for friends that are allergic to gluten, it can be really fun. I have decided to go along the line of Mediterranean/ Morroccan influenced food.

Ingredients

Mediterranean Wild Rice Salad

Serve 4

Italian parsley, finely chopped
1/2 red onion, finely cubed
a handful of freshly shaved Parmesan
a handful of Kalamata olives, pitted and roughly chopped
a handful of sundried tomatoes, finely chopped
zest of 2 lemon
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
3 zucchini, cut into matchsticks
1 red + 1 green roasted and skinless capsicum
a handful toasted whole almond, roughly chopped
2 eggplant roasted (see instructions below)
freshly ground black pepper
fennel salt

1 cup of wild rice
2 cups of tap water
a pinch of sea salt

1 cup of brown rice
2 cups of tap water
a pinch of sea salt

Chargrilled Moroccan Chicken

Serves 4

Marinate

800g boneless chicken thighs
2 tsp of ground cumin seeds
1 tsp of ground coriander seeds
1 tsp of sweet paprika
1 tsp of turmeric
small handful of chopped rosemary
freshly ground black pepper
3 cloves of NZ garlic
5 tbsp of olive oil
juice of 1 lemon

Method

Cooking rice

Place two types of different rice into two separate saucepans and bring them to boil before reducing to a low heat. Brown rice should take around 20 - 25 mins and wild rice should take around 30 mins.

Almost at the end of the cooking process, make sure that you taste the rice and check for its texture . You want it chewy, but not crunchy (under done) or mushy (over done).

Roasting eggplant

2 eggplants
garlic oil (crush 2 garlic with couple of tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil)
fennel salt
fresh ground black pepper
sweet paprika

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Cut the eggplants   into relatively thick chunks (this will provide great meaty texture when it is cooked). Brush the oil onto both sides of the eggplant. Sprinkle paprika, fennel salt and black pepper onto the eggplant. Place into the top rack of the oven for around 10 mins. Test it by lightly pressing the eggplant and make sure that they are soft and cooked through. Set aside.

You can make this hours in advance.

Making the salad

While you are waiting for both the eggplant and the rice to cook, you can prepare the rest of the salad and assemble everything together.

- cut zucchini into matchsticks
- remove olive stones with a cherry pitter and roughly chop the olives
- roughly chop the sundried tomatoes
- toast the almond until it is slightly golden brown and roughly chop them
- cut the red onion into small cubes
- roughly chopped Italian parsley
- hand shave the Parmesan cheese with a vege peeler
- zest and juice lemon
- brush oil over the capsicum and place it in a hot oven until it is blistered then place it in a bowl immediately and put glad wrap over it. Wait for 5 mins and then scrape the skin off with a pairing knife. Remove all the seeds and cut them into chunks. 

Chargrilled Moroccan Chicken

Mix all the ingredients and let them marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours. I made it 5 hours beforehand. 

Sprinkle the fennel seed salt just before placing it into the charcoal barbecue. Place the chicken thighs on the rack with skin side first. (It is a great way to seal the moisture in the chicken)

Cook both sides of the chicken and make sure that the meat is well cooked.

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