Cool Salad for Hot Days and Nights

Hello, blog readers!  I have received a request for some salad recipes for these hot days and nights.  This is one of my all time favorite recipes for summer.  It's from the Moosewood cookbook by Mollie Katzen.  I once had to provide lunch for a group of people and one of them was vegan, so I made this.  I really didn't expect the rest of the people to even try this salad.  They were delighted with their meal of fried chicken, mac and cheese and the rest. One of them tried it, then the rest followed and soon, they were all loving it!  I wasn't sure I would have enough for the vegan to be satiated!  It's a little prep-intensive, but worth every chop!  Enjoy.

Sri Wasano's Infamous Indonesian Rice Salad 

Serves 4 to 6

2 cups cooked, cooled brown rice*

½ cup raisins
2 chopped scallions
¼ cup toasted sesame seeds
½ cup thinly sliced water chestnuts
1 cup fresh mung bean sprouts
¼ cup toasted cashews
1 large, chopped green pepper
1 stalk chopped celery (it looks nice if you slice it on the diagonal)
fresh parsley

dressing:
¾ cup orange juice
½ cup safflower oil
1 Tbs. sesame oil
3-4 Tbs. Tamari sauce
2 Tbs. dry sherry
juice of one lemon
1-2 cloves minced garlic
½-1 tsp. freshly grated ginger root
salt + pepper

Combine all ingredients; serve chilled on greens. Optional to top with Duck Sauce, which, along with bean sprouts, sesame oil and ginger root, is available in most oriental food supply stores.

Variations to this recipe:

½ cup thinly sliced bamboo shoots
fresh, raw snow peas
fresh pineapple chunks
toasted coconut (unsweetened)

*1 cup raw rice cooked in 1¾ cups boiling, salted water

HAPPY COOKING AND HAPPY EATING!