Up here we have tons of the stuff. While it used to be a truely "wild" and natural food, commercialization and hybredization have made it not so natural anymore. Thankfully the flavor end of things hasn't changed a whole lot. And since Minnesota has a broad Scandahoovian population, we also have to lay claim to being the hotdish capital of the world. Let me assure you....I hate hotdish. Any kind. But I do like my wild rice.
I rinse a half pound of the rice in a collander under running cool water then add it to a pan of generic chicken broth. A cover goes on and the rice is simmered barely at a boil for 1/2 hour, then the rice is strained thru the collander again. Back in the pan it goes and a generous lump of butter gets stirred in along with a small shallot finely chopped, a single clove of garlic finely chopped, a tablespoon of beef base paste and some teriaki sauce. I like Kikomann's. I warm this thru real well then add the zest of an orange along with the juice from it. Let this heat thru while you blend a tablespoon more of the teriaki and a heaping teaspoon of cornstarch together then add to the rice mixture and turn up the heat just long enough to thicken the sauce a bit.
This makes an unreal side for fish, any red meat...especially grilled meats. When we travel north to the cabin I am forever on the lookout for specials on wild rice. I get for 1/2 the price that we'd have to pay down here in the lower end of the state. I use a lot of it just the way I described. Nutritionally I think its like eating grass seed because that's all it is. But cooked right....and by that I mean NOT in a hotdish or some creamed garbola soup....it don't taste like grass at all. Tasty in fact. And if you like onion soup.....try slicing and adding some mushrooms along with thin, broiled beef steak and a cup of cooked wild rice to it to make a super soup.
