Recipe

Easy bean salad

Serves 4 as a meal or 6 as a side dish
Recipe developed for Cooking from the heart SA, Pharma Dynamics

This is no ordinary bean salad. It’s wholesome and flavourful! All you need are five basic ingredients and then the secret element as always with a salad, is the delicious dressing to turn these everyday ingredients into something ‘special’. Enjoy the salad as a vibrant side dish with a braai. The beans are a great source of protein too, so you can even enjoy it as a light vegetarian meal. And when you have vegetarian guests at the braai, this a nutritious meal for them too. Vegetarians should also have a balanced meal to enjoy, not just be left to eat the side dishes on the table, often without any protein. Leftover bean salad is perfect to pack into a lunchbox, so it’s a great recipe to have on hand.

Ingredients

Salad

100 g broccoli, cut into small florets

1 x 410 g tin butter beans or any other white bean, drained (see tip)

1 x 400 g tin red kidney or black beans, drained

2 ripe tomatoes, cut into thin wedges and then halved

1 slice feta, cubed

fresh origanum, Italian parsley and thin strips of lemon rind to garnish

Dressing

¼ cup (60 ml) olive oil

2 tbsp (30 ml) lemon juice

1 tsp (5 ml) finely grated lemon rind

1 tbsp (15 ml) red wine vinegar or orange juice

1 tsp (5 ml) ground cumin

4 tsp (20 ml) chopped fresh origanum

5 tsp (25 ml) chopped fresh mint

black pepper to taste

Method

1. Salad: Place broccoli in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Allow to stand for 10-15 minutes or until just cooked, but still bright green. Rinse broccoli in a bowl of iced water to stop the cooking process. Drain well and pat dry with paper towel.
2. Dressing: Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl or jug and season to taste.
3. Gently toss all the salad ingredients with half of the dressing in a large mixing bowl. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow the flavours to develop. Mix in the remaining dressing, garnish with extra herbs and lemon rind. Serve immediately.

Tips

1. When in season, add one avocado, cubed.
2. Keep the butter bean liquid and freeze, to use as stock for stews and soups.

Image by Adel Ferreira Photography.