Ingredients:
1 red onion or 3 shallots, diced
3-5 large delicious tomatoes, diced
2 bell peppers, any colour, diced
2 cups cooked chickpeas (you can use black beans for a more traditional texicali salad, but any bean will do. f you use dried black beans soak them the same way (overnight or the 1 hour quick-soak method) and then boil them with a bunch of water (3 times as much water as beans by volume) for (just!) 35 minutes. Canned beans are also fine if you’re in a bind, but make a big batch of dried beans and then freeze the leftovers for just such a situation in the future.
2 cups corn*
1 head of lettuce (crunchy Boston from the Lufa Farms Fresh Basket is great), washed and dried
Dressing:
1/3 cup fresh cilantro (I used parsley because it’s cilantro for wimps, so a fine replacement, not that I’m a wimp, but because it’s what I had. It’s true you get a lot of cilantro and parsley in the Lufa Farms Fresh Basket, so use whatever you have)
1/2 lime juice (Use fresh if you can. It’s about 3 limes. If you have a juicer you are lucky. Otherwise, roll the limes to release the juices before cutting into them, squeeze, and be sure to strain the pulp and seeds)
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup kefir or tangy yogurt or sour cream (full fat or Greek-style is better for thickness, but use what you like. The upside of a runny kefir or yogurt is that you’ll use less dressing as it won’t really stick to the lettuce leaves or chickpeas.)**
1 tsp sugar (you may or may not need this. If your yogurt is naturally sweet because it’s higher in fat – the fat-free ones tend to be more bitter and the thick Greek ones also may need to be sweetened – you won’t need much of this, if any. So taste before you add, once the rest of the dressing is mixed, and make an educated decision.
1/2 salt (to taste)
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper (again, to taste)
Directions:
Combine the chopped shallots or onions, tomatoes, bell peppers, cooked chickpeas (or beans), and cooked fresh corn (or defrosted, un-cornstarched, drained corn) in a large bowl. Stir to mix.
Clean the lettuce, dry, and place in another large bowl. Then top the lettuce with the bean mixture.
In a blender combine the dressing ingredients and blend. I thought it was a bit watery, and this was from the runny kefir I used, so next time I may go for the thick Pinehedge 3.8% milk fat yogurt I like. There is no non-fat-free version, but it’s runnier.
Pour the blended mixture over the beans and stir to combine.
You can also not place the bean mixture on the bed of lettuce, and just add the dressing directly to it. That way you can let it sit in the fridge to let the flavours combine before pouring it over the lettuce. Once you’ve added the mixture to the lettuce your time is short. The lettuce will wilt and get soggy. I recommend NOT adding the dressing or bean mixture to all the lettuce unless you’re at a potluck or serving this for a large group of people right away. Then if there are leftovers you won’t be eating soggy leftovers, or heaven forbid, throwing out otherwise beautiful salad.
*freshly scraped from a few cobs is best – just boil or steam them for a few minutes until soft, or microwave in a little water for 2 minutes. Don’t feel like scraping corn from the cobs? Me neither…That’s what teeth are for, and then why would you add it to a salad instead of eating fresh? So, for this recipe frozen is second best. Canned is okay only when desperate. I used frozen and just stuck it in the microwave for 2 minutes with a few tablespoons of water to get it all unfrozen (it’s already cooked but I wanted to remove the starch that’s applied to maintain the texture for freezing. Gross, huh? Oh the many uses of processed cornstarch in the great North American corn industry…). You can also boil the kernels to unfreeze them and un-cornstarch them. Just drain them and let them dry off before adding them to the salad.
**When yogurt is used in a dressing you can reduce the amount of oil necessary without diluting the flavour. Oil is pretty bland, so when you combine it with and equal amount of lime juice like above, you’re not going to get a whole lot of the olive flavour anyway, so using that much is a waste. That’s why I say 2-3 tbsp, because the yogurt adds the liquid the dressing needs without squishing the flavour of the lime. You need some oil or the yogurt and lime are still too overwhelmed by each other, but you really don’t need a half a cup. Geez…Start with 2 tbsp and add another if you’re not happy with the flavour or if it’s too acidic.
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