Chickpea and Black Bean Salad
with Chipotle Chiles

This brightly-seasoned salad with its pleasing variety of colors, textures and flavors holds one of the top places in my all-time favorite salads!

Yield: about 5 cups

Ingredients

Dressing

• 1/3 cup mayonnaise
• 1 lime, zested and juiced (about 2 tablespoons juice)
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 chipotle chile (from a can of chipotle chiles in adobo sauce; more or less, to taste), mashed

Salad

• 2 (15 ounce cans) beans, rinsed and drained (my favorite combination is one can of chickpeas and one can black beans)
• 1 fresh, aromatic tomato, diced
• 1 sweet bell pepper (any color), diced
• 1/3 cup chopped red or sweet onion
• 1 cup chopped cilantro
• Raw sweet corn kernels (optional)
• Diced cucumber (optional)
• Adobo sauce (from the can of chipotle peppers), to taste
• Salt, to taste
• Pepper, to taste

Instructions

To make the dressing

1. In a small bowl, stir all of the ingredients together. (To reduce the spiciness of the chipotle chile, remove the seeds before mashing).
2. Scrape the seeds from the chipotle chiles and discard. Mash the chiles with the back of a spoon, add to bowl.

To prepare the salad

1. Combine the beans, tomato, bell pepper, cilantro and corn and cucumber, if using, in a bowl.
2. Gently stir in the prepared dressing until well mixed.
3. Taste and add adobo sauce, salt and pepper to taste.
4. Transfer the salad to a serving dish and serve immediately; or cover and refrigerate to enjoy later.

Attribution

Adapted from Bon Appetit magazine, January, 2002, by LuAnn B., a.k.a. "Tofu Queen."