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!