Miso-ginger wild rice with carrots, cabbage, daikon and turnip

New Year’s Day provided us with a freebie day off in the middle of the week.  Besides random household chores, I decided that the best use of this time would be to cook a few dishes that we planned to eat in the coming week so that we buy ourselves time in the evenings for the next few days by having dinner already prepared.  The bigger benefit being that these dishes are ones that get better with time- the kind that soak up dressings, and age with grace.  A soup, some roasted vegetables, a dressed rice dish….
Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cups uncooked wild rice
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 4 medium carrots, quartered and sliced thin
• 2 stalks celery, sliced thin
• 1 leek, sliced thin
• 1 3-inch piece daikon, halved and cut into thin strips
• 1 small purple-top turnip, peeled, halved, and cut into thin half-circles
• 1 cup thinly cut cabbage
• 4 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons sunflower (or other mild) oil
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon finely grated ginger
• 1 tablespoon barley miso (we found a great 3-year dark handcrafted right in Conway, MA by South River.  Organic too!)
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Directions

• Bring the chicken stock to a boil in a medium pot, add the rice and return it to a boil
• Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until liquid is absorbed and rice is cooked through, about 50 minutes
• Meanwhile, bring a large fry pan up to a medium heat and add 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil and all of the sesame oil, then toss in the carrots, celery, leek, daikon and turnip and get a nice brown on them.  If they begin to get too dark, turn down the heat and cook them until they’re al dente
• When the veggies are cooked, add in the cabbage.  It’s cut nice and thin so it should soften up quickly
• While that’s cooking, in a large bowl, whisk together the vinegar, garlic, remaining tablespoon of sunflower oil, ginger, miso and crushed red pepper until blended
• When the rice is cooked, add it to the pan with the vegetables (or, if you’re out of space in the pan you can do this in a large serving or mixing bowl) and pour in the dressing, stirring to incorporate all ingredients