Mexican bean salad with home made Tajin and Cumin/cilantro dressing

Perfect for summer, this Mexican bean salad is great for a party or cookout. Make your own homemade Tajin spice with our Mexican dried chillies like guajillo, ancho, chipotle peppers. You can eat this salad as a dip with tortilla chips, or tacos, quesadillas, on top of green salads, or omelettes. Add chicken and rice and you have a rice bowl as well! You name it!

Servings:

8 people

Ingredients:

• 1/2 red pepper chopped

• 1/2 orange pepper chopped

• 1/2 English cucumber chopped

• 1/4 red onion chopped

• 1 medium firm tomato (seeds removed and chopped)

• 2 cups cooked black beans

• 1 cup cooked corn

• 1/2 cup cilantro chopped

• 1 lime zested and freshly squeezed juice

• 1/2 tbsp green chilli paste (optional)

• 1/2 tsp oregano

• 1 tbsp homemade Tajin seasoning (In a spice grinder add 1 cup of mixed dried peppers-guajillo, chipotle and ancho seeded and stems removed. Zest one whole lime and add 2 tsp coarse sea salt and 1 tbsp organic cane sugar. Grind spices till mixture is finely blended. Place in a glass jar for storage)

Directions:

1. Toss everything in a bowl and dress with cilantro cumin dressing

   Makes 1 cup dressing

Ingredients for Cumin Cilantro dressing:

• 1 clove garlic

• 1 tbsp coarsely chopped red onion

• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

• 1 tsp lemon juice

• 1 tsp Tabasco

• 1 tsp ground cumin

• 1 cup cilantro leaves

• 1/2 cup olive oil

• 1/2 tsp fine sea salt

• 1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper

Directions:

In a blender, combine all ingredients except for olive oil, salt and pepper. Blend on medium high speed.Stop the blender and scrape the sides down. Then run the blender on slow and slowly drizzle in the olive oil salt and pepper (30 seconds) until emulsified and thickened.

Refrigerate in an airtight container till ready to use. Can be kept up to 3 days.

Bean Pilaff

Rice and beans is a combination that is cooked in many cultures around the world. The grain and legume combination provides several important nutrients and many calories and both foods are widely available. Rice and beans, when combined make up a complete protein and good for vegans.

My favourite rice and beans combination is a spicy bean pilaff. I make it with any type of bean in my pantry.

Serves 2

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp cooking oil (I use grape seed oil or sunflower oil)

• 1/2 chopped onion

• 1 green chilli slit in half

• 1 tsp cumin seeds

• 1 cinnamon stick

• 2 cloves whole

• 1 cardamom whole

• If you don’t have above spices you can order a rice pilaff package with a plant based curry spice blend

• 2 medium potatoes 1” cubed

• 1 Roma tomato, chopped

• 1 tsp garlic paste

• 1/2 tsp cayenne (add more if you want it spicy)

• 1/2 cup of your favourite cooked beans

• 1 1/2 tsp sea salt

• 1 cup washed and soaked basmati rice

• 1 1/2 cup water

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a saucepan and add chopped onion. 

2.  Add green chilly, cumin seeds, cloves, cinnamon sticks, cardamom and saute till onions become translucent 

3. Then add potatoes and keep stirring so the mixture does not burn.

4.  Add chopped tomato, garlic, and salt. Stir mixture about 3-5 minutes then add any choice of beans

5. Add water and let boil.

6. Once water is boiled, add washed rice and cover for about 15 minutes till you see water has evaporated and you see holes at the top.

7. Cover and simmer till potatoes are cooked through.

8. I love the combination of spicy corn on the side. Check my recipe here. Enjoy!