Black Beans Salad With Lime Dressing

The zest from the limes adds a lovely zing to this salad. Serve this colorful salad in lettuce cups, hollowed out tomatoes, or roasted sweet bell peppers, etc as an appetizer or as part of a meal. Great for picnics and pot-lucks too. Delicious and healthy!

Epazote is a Mexican herb used to aid the digestibility of dried beans while imparting a wonderful flavor also.

6 Servings

Ingredients:

11/2 cups Black Beans
1 Each Dried whole Red Chili and Serrano Chili
1/2 tsp Salt
1 or 2 sprigs Epazote (optional)
A handful of Fennel Bulb or Celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 cup Corn kernels, fresh or frozen
1 small red bell pepper, diced
1/4 cup fresh Cilantro, finely chopped
2 Tbsp fresh Basil or Mint, finely sliced (optional)
Freshly ground Black Pepper

Dressing:

1-2 Limes, zest from one and juice as needed
1 Jalapeno/Serrano chili, seeded and minced finely
1 clove Garlic, finely minced
1 Shallot, finely minced
2 - 3 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Cayenne (Ground Red Chili)

Method:

Sort, soak and cook the beans with the salt, chilies and epazote sprigs until tender but not mushy; for directions on how to cook dried beans, click here.

Drain the beans well while still quite warm. Save the broth for soup if you like and discard the herbs and chilies. Alternately, use 2 regular cans of beans drained and rinsed thoroughly.

Combine the dressing ingredients and mix well.

Add the dressing to the warm beans and mix well - the beans absorb all the flavors much better while still warm.

Stir in the veggies (thaw the corn kernels if frozen) and serve at room temperature.

If prepared ahead of time, chill until ready to serve and allow to warm up to room temperature. The salad is fresh up to two days. Enjoy!!