Coronation Chick Pea Salad

Salad:
1/3 cup (60 gram) wild rice
1/2 tablespoon rapeseed/canola or olive oil
1 small to medium red onion, finely diced
2 teaspoon mild curry powder
1 tablespoon tomato puree
1 tin of chickpeas, drained
2 tablespoon water
2 tablespoon raisins
6 dried apricots, cut into roughly raisin size
4 spring onions, white part only, finely sliced
handful of toasted flaked almonds
handful of fresh coriander chopped

Dressing:
1/2 cup (60ml) water
1/2 cup cashew nuts
1/2 (170gram or 6 ounce) pack silken tofu
1 heaped tablespoon mango chutney
good pinch of saffron
2 tablespoon lemon juice
pinch of salt

First cook the rice in 1 and 1/2 cups of water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Drain and cool down. Set aside.

In a frying pan heat the oil, gently saute the onion until tender but do not brown, about 10 minutes.

Add the curry powder and cook for 30 seconds.

Next add the tomato puree. Stir together.

Add the chickpeas and 2 tablespoon of water to the frying pan. Season with salt. Cook gently until the water is evaporated and the chickpeas are coated with thick curry paste. Let the chickpeas cool down.

When the rice and chickpeas have cooled down place them into a bowl and add the rest of the salad ingredients.

To make the dressing blend all the ingredients in a blender till smooth. Pour some of the dressing over the salad, mix well. The salad should be very creamy. You can overdo the dressing a bit, it thickens in the fridge. Chill.

Decorate with some almonds and coriander and enjoy!