I love wild rice, but I’ve always found pilafs made with wild rice to be disappointing. How is that possible? I mean, wild rice is the star of the dish, and it’s always awesome in other dishes like my vegetable wild rice soup and mushroom wild rice soup. I think the problem is that in a pilaf, wild rice can be too much. Too much chewiness, too much intense earthy flavor. It’s kind of heavy. And mouthful after mouthful of almost all wild rice can get boring. There are some wild rice recipes where it’s good on it’s own, but this is not one of them. I found the solution: for my wild rice pilaf, I mix my wild rice with brown rice. A brown and wild rice pilaf has a much nicer balance of flavors and textures. It’s my secret to making the absolute best wild rice pilaf. A fifty-fifty blend of wild to brown rice seems to be the magic ratio, and when you add other ingredients like sautéed mushrooms, peas, and crunchy pecans, your wild rice pilaf is good enough to make a meal of!
Ingredients You’ll Need
Vegan butter. This can usually be found near the regular butter at the supermarket. Look for brands like Earth Balance and Miyokos. Onion. Garlic. Vegetable broth. I like Better Than Bouillon in seasoned vegetable flavor. Fresh herbs. We’re using thyme and rosemary. Dried herbs can be substituted if you’d like. Brown rice. You could substitute white rice if needed, but you’ll need to reduce the simmer time by about half. Pecans. Feel free to substitute another type of nut or seed if pecans aren’t your thing. Walnuts, hazelnuts, and sunflower seeds would all be great! Cremini mushrooms. White button mushrooms can be substituted if needed. White wine. Feel free to omit this for an alcohol-free recipe. If you do use the wine, check with Barnivore to ensure you choose a vegan brand. Salt & pepper. Frozen peas. Thaw them out before adding them to the dish. Fresh parsley. I like flat leaf parsley best for this recipe, because it has lots of flavor! But curly parsley will work just fine if that’s what you have.
How It’s Made
The following is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you’d like to skip right to the recipe! While the rice cooks, you’re going to toast your pecans and sauté your mushrooms. Step 9: Time to check on your rice! It’s done when the brown rice is tender and the wild rice is a bit chewy. Step 10: If there’s some liquid remaining in the pot, drain it, put the rice back in the pot, then let it sit with the lid on for about five minutes. Step 10: Stir the mushrooms and pecans into the rice, along with some thawed frozen peas and parsley. Give it a taste-test and add as much salt and pepper as you like.
More Savory Vegan Side Dishes
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