We usually have some sort of marinated salad on the go in the fridge at any time, to add to meals as a side dish or to eat as a snack. Or we serve some of them together along with some greens and have a salad-plate for dinner.
This Black Bean and Rice Salad is a favourite, with its ginger, garlic and cumin dressing. In my experience, not everyone is a fan of the ‘exotic’ (for lack of a better word) flavours in this one, but those who like it, really really like it.
It can be made with left-over or freshly cooked rice, and the black beans can be canned or cooked by you.
Making your own beans is a bit time consuming because they have to soak overnight before boiling. However, we go through the effort because they taste so good and we eat beans quite often, so it is economical. (I won’t get all preachy about trying to avoid using food from cans, but we do so when we can. Of course, we eat some canned foods, like tuna fish, salmon and sardines, but for the most part we DIY our food as much as we can.) Anyway, with the beans, we cook up a bunch and then freeze them in zip-lock freezer bags. Once they’re frozen and all stuck together, if we only need a small amount, we run water right into the bag. They’ll fall apart and you can take out what you need. Then just drain the water out and re-seal and freeze.
Black Bean and Rice Salad
Salad
Ingredients
- 4-5 cups cooked rice (white or brown, warm or cold)
- 2 cups or so of cooked black beans. If canned, drained and rinsed.
- 1/2 bell pepper cubed, red or green
- 1 large carrot chopped into small pieces
- 1 green onion chopped
- A handful of coriander (cilantro) chopped finely
- Optional : 1/2 to 1 cup Corn niblets and/or 1 ribs of celery chopped.
Instructions
Stir salad ingredients together.
Description
Rice and black bean salad mix
Dressing
Ingredients for salad dressing
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup white or red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons soya sauce
- 1 teaspoon sesame seed oil
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon each dried oregano and basil or 2 teaspoons fresh minced.
- About 1 1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1/2 to 1 teaspoon minced hot pepper (optional)
- Salt to taste – start light and add more to finished salad if desired. Note the soya sauce adds salt already.
Mix the ingredients together and let marinade
Mix dressing ingredients together in a measuring cup. Pour over salad and combine well. Check for salt level and add it required. Allow to marinate or eat right away. Keeps well for a few days in the fridge.
Description
Soy Sesame flavored dressing
Ingredients part 3
Instructions part 3
Description part 3
Ingredients part 4
Instructions part 4
Description part 4
If you make any marinated salads I’d love to hear about them, as I am always interested in adding more to our repertoire. It is just so handy to have these in the fridge. You can click the links below if you want to see some of the other salads we regularly make.
Thank you very much for taking a look. I hope you’re having a good Friday.
xo loulou
