May 16th, 2009

wild red rice and curried tofu salad

If I have to put the feeling of the weather outside today into a bowl, this would be it, don’t ask me why, this is just it :) After a busy week of freelancing for another industrial design project, my fridge is kind of full of leftovers. I kind of want something with a kick, so I chose the simple boiled rosso selvatico - it is a beautiful Italian red rice from the Perinotti family who grow this rice at the Grange Vercellesi area of Italy - and the leftover of curried tofu I made on Thursday. When I was mixing them, it kind of missed a fresh kick, so I ran to Gerardo’s shop to get some fresh rucola and (as always) also attracted by other green beauties, so I got a fresh bunch of basil, marjoram, some salad mixed salad leaves, a bag of pear and (I just could not resist) strawberry (again)

The curried tofu I made was too spicy for me, but I remember when I used to live with my friend H in England, she told me raita would help to sooth the spiciness. So I made a simple one with cucumber and mint :) Hope you all have a nice weekend. Baci!

Wild Red Rice with Curried Tofu Salad

For 2

Assembling soundtrack: Heaven by Unkle (be.au.ti.ful!)

50g wild red rice

300ml water

100g firm tofu, crumbled

A bunch of agretti, if you can’t find this, any seasonal green you like will do (I put baby spinach sometimes), blanched

White part of one small leek, washed and chopped

1 cm of ginger, peeled and crushed

1 small clove of garlic, peeled and crushed

1 small scallion, finely sliced

3 green chilies, finely sliced

A handful of rucola/rockets, wash, pat dry with kitchen towel and tear with hand

Sea salt and pepper

Any curry powder you like

Extra virgin olive oil

Half of a small cucumber, wash and cut into small cubes

5 mint leaves, sliced finely

Two dollops of greek youghurt

A bit of milk for thinning

Herby tops of a fennel

Cook the wild rice with water for 30-40 minutes until tender, set aside.

Mix the cucumber, mint and fennel herbs in a small bowl, add the yoghurt, abit of milk and salt, mix well, taste and adjust the seasoning, set aside.

Heat some glugs of olive oil in a frying pan, add the garlic, scallion, green chillies and leek until just abit brown, add the crumbled tofu and agretti, stir well, then sprinkle some curry powder, sea salt and pepper, stir well. Cook for about 10 minutes in medium heat, taste and adjust the seasoning.

Mix the cooked rice and curried tofu and rucola and drizzle with olive oil if you think it is too dry, serve with the raita.

If you like, you can even sprinkle some toasted seeds and nuts you like, or eat it with hard boiled egg. Yum!

Buon apetito!

Filed under: food