Black Beans
by Cat, May 2009 (photo, right, from Wikimedia Commons)
See also: 1. Basic Black Beans; 2. Legumes (About) (on my main website); 3. Beans & Other Legumes: Soaking & Sprouting; 4. Black Bean & Goat Cheese Quesadillas, with Guacamole;
Other sites: 1. Emily Skinner Bean Recipes (2); 2. The Vegan Gourmet on dried beans & peas (great reference! (3))
This is a wonderful vegetarian main dish, or excellent side dish.
Black Bean and Corn Salad
This recipe is adapted from Fine Cooking magazine (1), originally by Jan Newberry. I’ve cut the recipe in half, to serve 2.
The original recipe used cherry tomatoes, but I like the sweetness and flavor of grape tomatoes better.
Ingredients & Equipment:
- 1 cup basic black beans (2.6 oz dried beans)
- 1 bay leaf
- Unrefined sea salt
- ½ cup fresh corn kernels or frozen corn, thawed & blanched
- ½ red bell pepper, seeded and diced & blanched
- 4 oz cherry or grape tomatoes, quartered (or ½ cup chopped tomatoes)
- ¼ cup thinly sliced scallions
- ½ small hot green chile, seeded & finely chopped *
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 – 4 Tbsp finely chopped fresh cilantro
- serving bowl
- 2 small bowls, cups or jars
Method:
- Prepare Basic Black Beans (see above, about ⅓ recipe), adding the bay leaf to the cooking pot. When finished cooking, let cool in the broth. If holding for more than a few hours, refrigerate the cooled beans in the broth; then bring to room temperature before assembling the salad.
- Meanwhile, prep the corn and bell pepper, blanching them together.
- Prep tomatoes, scallions and chile, placing all in a serving bowl. Chop the cilantro and set aside in a small bowl or cup (Refrigerate if will not be using right away).
- Drain beans, discarding onion and bay leaf. Combine beans in bowl with corn mixture.
- Squeeze lime juice into small bowl or jar; stir in ¼ tsp salt and ⅛ tsp pepper. Then whisk in olive oil to combine. Add this dressing and the cilantro to the bean mixture, stirring gently until well combined.
- Let sit 15 minutes; taste and adjust seasoning. Serve at room temperature.
* If you like spicy heat, leave the ribs of the chile intact; cut them out for less incendiary flavor.
Assembly or Serving ideas
References
- Fine Cooking recipe: finecooking.com/recipes/black-bean-corn-salad.aspx
- Emily Skinner Bean Recipes (emilyskinner.com/food/beans.html);
- The Vegan Gourmet on dried beans & peas (great reference!) (chezbettay.com/pages/basics1/basics_beans1.html
