Bejeweled Black Rice Salad

It was really tempting to call this 'Bedazzled Black Rice Salad.'  It's the kind of dish that makes you want to put rhinestones on your jean jacket.  Or on your backpack.  Or your dog.  It's easy to get carried away with bedazzling.  Let's regroup.

This is a springtimey kind of grain salad that can easily be tweaked a little to take your mouth straight on in to summertime flavortown.  I really like the slighty chewy texture of the black rice, and it makes the colors of the cranberry, carrot, and scallions really pop.

Gather up your ingredients.  For the salad you'll need:

A large bowl

2 cups of black rice (Wild or brown basmati rice would also work well here, but it won't be as pretty!)

4 cups water

3-4 Scallions, chopped

3/4 cup shredded carrots

1/3 to 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Goat cheese or feta (totally optional but highly recommended, unless you want to veganize it)

For the dressing, you'll need:

2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoons of dijon mustard
1 cup of OJ
Salt and (generous amounts of) pepper, to taste

While your rice is cooking, chop up your scallions.  If you're not lazy like me, get yourself an arm workout and shred the carrots that you didn't buy pre-shredded.  Toss your scallions, carrots, and cranberries in your large bowl.

Whisk up your dressing and set it aside.

Get distracted by the colors.  Regroup and get back to work.

When your rice is done, let it cool for a few minutes and stir it into your chopped veggies and dried fruit.

Stir in your dressing.

Crumble in some goat cheese!  Go ahead, crumble in a little extra.  You won't regret it.  You deserve it.

Put the finished product in your mouth right away.  Don't try to take pictures while the sun is hiding behind a cloud.  Nobody is photogenic in fluorescent lighting, not even Bedazzled Bejeweled Black Rice Salad.

It's also great cold!  I took leftovers for lunch a few times last week.  If you want to amp up the summer quotient, try adding lime zest and a squeeze of lime juice to the dressing, and stirring in some chopped fresh mint leaves with the veggies.  Would that make it a Mojitoed Black Rice Salad?  Would it even be fair to eat that without an actual mojito in hand?  It's best not to tempt fate.  If you summerfy this salad, make yourself a mojito to go with it.