Orange Cashew Rice

This recipe comes from Vanessa B. She found it at Mel's Kitchen Cafe.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup orange juice
• 2 teaspoons freshly grated orange zest
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Salt to taste
• 1 cup basmati rice
• 1/2 cup roasted cashew pieces
• 1/4 cup chopped yellow peppers
• 1/4 cup chopped red peppers
• 3 green onions, minced
• 1 (8-ounce) can mandarin orange segments, drained well

Directions:

For the rice, in a 2-quart saucepan, bring the water, orange juice, orange zest, olive oil and salt to a boil. Stir in the rice. Cover the saucepan and lower the heat to a gentle simmer, simmering the rice for 25-30 minutes, until the rice is cooked through and the liquid has totally evaporated. Let stand, covered, off the heat for 5-10 minutes.

Scrape the rice into a large bowl. Add the cashew pieces, peppers and green onions. Season with salt and pepper and add the drained orange segments to the rice, folding them in gently to prevent the oranges from breaking.

Serves 4

If you don’t have basmati rice on hand, you can try substituting long grain white rice since it has the same basic rice-to-liquid ratio. Also, if your cashews are untoasted/unroasted, simply scatter them in a skillet and toast them for a few minutes on the stovetop for a few minutes until golden.

Notes about this recipe:

1. I used long grain rice and thought it turned out great.