This week the salad came from Judy of Berkeley, Calfiornia.
I made it on Cinco de Mayo and had plenty left over to take to school and share on the 6th.
"It's not a recipe fixed in stone...", so quantities and ingredients are flexible.
Black Bean Salad
2 cups dried black beans
cover dry beans with 2 inches of water, and allow to soak overnight; drain soaking liquid, cover with fresh water, bring to boil, reduce heat to simmer and cook (1 – 2 hrs) until beans are tender. Do NOT salt the water – it can cause the beans to toughen. Rinse and drain beans well, to get rid of all the black/grey liquid, which can discolor the salad.
Note – if you prefer, you can substitute 4 – 16. oz cans of cooked black beans; just rinse and drain thoroughly as above.
While beans are cooking, also cook
1 – ½ to 2 cups long grain rice, brown rice, or an "8 grain" mixture of rice/grain that you can get from some stores, following package directions..
Cool beans and grain.
Dice some combination of the following:-- try to dice all veggetables uniformly to a size similar to the size of the black beans for best appearance:
Red onions (maybe 1 whole one)
Garlic, minced or crushed (up to 12 cloves more or less)
Bell peppers. I like to use 3 colors to brighten up the salad.
Jalapeno - 2 or 3 depending on heat you like, minced
Corn, canned, frozen or fresh as you like maybe a cup or so (suggestion – use the roasted corn from Trader Joe’s for an extra layer of flavor).
Optional addition --green beans or zucchini
Toss all ingredients together and season with salt and pepper.
Then add Cumin-lime vinaigrette:
Olive oil (about 1/2 cup)
lime zest
lime juice (about 1/4 cup)
salt & pepper
1 teaspoon or so of mustard
garlic (maybe 6 or so cloves)
cumin and or chili powder (1-2 teaspoons to taste)
adjust these ingredients as needed to balance the flavors.
Optional: stir in fresh chopped cilantro.
Garnish with cilantro.
Since the instructions said it's a flexible recipe, I changed it somewhat. I added a couple of chopped cucumbers and put only a little bit (about a tablespoon) of chopped scallion instead of the onion. I used red pepper flakes instead of jalepeno pepper, only 2 cloves of garlic and about doubled the lime juice. We really enjoyed the fresh hearty salad as did the other teachers at preschool.
Thanks, Tour mama!
