Serves 6-8
Living in Costa Rica, I swear I eat a little bit of corn, beans, and rice every day. Here, the traditional Gallo Pinto (Rice & Beans) you can find served for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Corn is used to make many dishes here as well such as tortillas, empanadas, and tamales. This flavorful summer salad gives us a healthy spin on Costa Rican staples and will leave you feeling satisfied. Being healthy has never tasted so good!
Ingredients:
Salad
· 2 cups of cooked black beans (bag or can)
· 2 cooked corn cobs
· 2 red peppers
· 2 avocados
· 1 medium red onion
· 1 jalapeno
· ½ cup of cilantro
Non-Spicey Dressing
· juice from half of an orange
· juice from 1 lime
· ¼ cup of olive oil
· ¼ cup of cilantro
· ½ tsp cumin
· 1 minced garlic clove
· dash of salt
· dash of pepper
Spicey (Picante) Dressing
· juice from half of an orange
· juice from 1 lime
· ½ cup of olive oil
· ¼ cup of cilantro
· 1 minced garlic clove
· dash of salt
· dash of pepper
· 1 tbsp of chopped jalapeno
· 1 tsp of red curry paste
Instructions:
Salad
1. Boil black beans and corn ahead of time if needed, otherwise, you are welcome to use canned vegetables.
2. Place 2 cups of black beans and 2 cups of corn into a bowl.
3. Slice up the red peppers, red onion, avocados, cilantro, and jalapeno.
4. Place all of the red peppers, avocados, and onion in the bowl.
5. Place ½ cup of cilantro in the bowl leaving the extra cilantro for the dressing.
6. Place all but 1 TBSP of the jalapeno in the bowl. The 1 TBSP of jalapeno will be used for the spicey dressing. If you do not wish for your salad to be spicey then omit this ingredient altogether.
7. Pour your dressing of choice over the salad.
8. Mix the ingredients and dressing together in the bowl.
9. Serve.
Non-Spicey Dressing
1. Mince one garlic clove and place it into a jar.
2. Squeeze the juice from an entire lime and half of an orange into the jar.
3. Add ¼ cup of olive oil.
4. Add ¼ cup of previously chopped cilantro.
5. Add ½ tsp of cumin.
6. Add a dash of pepper and salt to your liking.
7. Stir with a spoon.
8. Pour over your salad.
Spicey (Picante) Dressing
1. Mince one garlic clove and place it into a jar.
2. Squeeze the juice from an entire lime and half of an orange into the jar.
3. Add ¼ cup of olive oil.
4. Add ¼ cup of previously chopped cilantro.
5. Add 1 Tbsp of chopped jalapeno.
6. Add 1 tsp of red curry paste.
7. Add a dash of pepper and salt to your liking.
8. Stir with a spoon.
9. Pour over your salad.
Additional Notes –
As many of you know, I am also a lover of meal prepping and this salad is perfect for lasting the entire week in your refrigerator. The only item I add daily instead of pre-mixing with the salad is the avocados. They can often turn brown and mushy if you keep them in your refrigerator for more than a day. I like my avocados firm and green if you know what I mean!
If you are making black beans from a bag you will need to leave them overnight in a bowl with water and then boil them for 1-2 hours until they are soft. You can also use black beans from a can (15 ounces). I prefer to make a large quantity of black beans on the stove ahead of time and place them in the freezer for future use.
I love to use grilled corn over boiled for this particular salad since it is one of the two main stars of the show. It just adds more flavor, in my opinion, to the overall dish. I also just enjoy the smell of roasted corn.
Half of the world loves cilantro, and the other half despises it! If you are one of the people who absolutely despise cilantro, rest assured when cilantro is omitted this summer salad will still be full of flavor!
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