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May 12, 2007
Black Bean, Fresh Corn, and Mango Salad
You can tell that spring is here, because suddenly all I want to eat is salad. And fruit. (But oddly enough, rarely fruit salad. I'm not a fruit salad kind of girl.)
I was in the supermarket this afternoon, and came across some fresh corn and a lovely looking mango. And the idea for this salad was born. It's a bit sweet, a bit spicy (or a lot spicy if you want), and loaded with more anti-oxidants than you can shake a stick at. And it takes almost no time at all to make.
I like the combination of Tabasco and Sriracha hot sauces in this recipe. I find that Tabasco gives a nice vinegary bite, but doesn't taste rounded enough on its own. Sriracha adds a nice depth of flavor without being overpowering on the heat. It might be interesting to experiment with different hot sauces.
The Ingredients
- kernels cut form 2 ears fresh corn
- 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1/2 pint of cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 medium avocado, peeled and diced
- flesh of 1 mango, diced
- 1 bunch scallions, sliced
- 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
- juice of approximately 1 lime (I bought 4 limes, but they were weird and dry, and I could barely get any juice out of them. I actually ended up adding a little cider vinegar to increase the acidity, but I don't think you'd need to do that with normal limes.)
- Tabasco sauce to taste
- Sriracha hot sauce to taste
- olive oil to taste
- salt and pepper to taste
I learned a neat trick recently for removing kernels from a corn cob: start by cutting the cob in half across the middle. This gives you two short pieces of cob, each with a flat end, and you can just stand them on your cutting board and slice the kernels off with a knife. Amazing. For the first time ever, I've cut kernels off an ear of corn without getting corn all over the kitchen.
The Steps
- Combine the corn kernels, black beans, tomatoes, avocado, mango, scallions, and cilantro in a large bowl.
- Squeeze over the lime juice, and drizzle on some olive oil. Add a bit of the Tabasco and Sriracha sauces, and toss everything together well.
- Taste, and add more lime juice, hot sauce, oil, salt, or pepper to taste.
I served this over some baby spinach for a bit of extra greenery. It worked pretty well.
Serves about 4.
Posted by spaceling at May 12, 2007 07:32 PM
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