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This could have been made by the Native Americans who lived in the northern two-thirds of the country, particularly in the Great Lakes regions. Wild rice, hazelnuts, and pecans are all native crops, and they're easy to get at the store. Wild rice (which really is wild, although it's not really a rice) is rather expensive, but make sure you're buying pure wild rice--not a blend of wild and domestic rice.
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
- 1 tsp. salt
- 4 cups wild rice
- 1/2 cup walnut oil
- 1/2 cup sliced green onions (tender parts only)
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped hazelnuts
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans
- 1 dash Tabasco
1. Bring a quart of water to a boil in a large pot. Dissolve the salt and maple syrup into it. Sprinkle in the wild rice and stir once. Cover the pot, lower the heat to a simmer, and simmer for 45 minutes. (Wild rice takes much longer than white rice to cook.)
2. While the rice is cooking, heat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the hazelnut and pecan pieces on a cookie sheet or pizza pan, and toast them on the top shelf of the oven. It takes about two minutes, but watch the nuts closely--as soon as you see even a hint of darkening, remove them.
3. When the rice is cooked, heat half the walnut oil in a skillet and saute the green onions just till they get tender--no more than two minutes. Add the rice to the pan, add the wild rice and the nuts to the pan. Stir with a kitchen fork to fluff and distribute all the ingredients.
4. Stir the Tabasco into the remaining walnut oil, and drizzle the oil over the rice.
Serves twelve to sixteen.