Simple Three Bean Salad

I do not do beans much and seldom add them to my stews as I find beans combined with meat is far too heavy. That is until I started eating more vegan and vegetarian dishes. This simple three bean salad is a great way to start.

Whether its chickpeas, kidney beans, blacked eyed peas, cannelini beans and the list goes on, I just haven’t done much with beans. Not until my sister came along on one of our big food weekends last year. I am still at the stage where I will only do canned beans, even for dishes like waakye (Ghana rice and peas), I mean, who has time to plan ahead and soak beans 24 hours before a spontaneous cook up? Baby steps as they say.

The dish? A cool and refreshingly fragrant 3 bean salad. I have got to be honest, I was not keen at first but now I make a sizeable batch and enjoy it throughout the week. It remains fresh and crunchy. My sister found the original recipe here, but below is my take on it.

1 400g can adzuki beans
1 400g can butter beans
1 400g can chickpeas
1 cup finely chopped curly leaf parsley
1 small to medium shallot or red onion (finely diced)
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary (be generous)
1 and 1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Dressing
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1. Drain and plop all the beans into a salad bowl.
2. Add the chopped parsley, rosemary and diced onions
3. Whisk together the dressing ingredients and pour over the salad. Season with salt and pepper then toss.

This salad is excruciatingly wonderful when served chilled. Be very generous with the rosemary as it gives the salad an extra refreshing bite. Do not be shy of the sugar either as it is what makes this dish. Alternative sweeteners such as agave nectar or sweetener flakes could be used instead though I have not tried it yet.

Yum!!!!

© myburntorange