Time for the second week of Salad Samplers. This week our recipe was chosen by Judy. In honor of Cinco de Mayo, she chose a recipe for a Latin flavored Black Bean Salad. This recipe was given to her by a former co-worker who is also a caterer, and she said the instructions begin “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.
This salad was very good. Makes a meal in itself. Next time I make it I’ll use a little less lime(I used most of one, and it was almost bitter), 1/2 onion rather than a whole one, and would probably add fresh chopped tomatoes.