Finding a Voice

I love pulses (legumes) of all kinds. I also love tropical fruits and learned to know a good mango in Taiwan, where lived down the street from some guys who had a mango tree. (They buried my puppy under it one sad day.)

Last summer, I was delighted to find a recipe on the back of the label on a can of black beans. Can’t remember the brand – Classico? Co-op? Nevertheless, it was a lovely recipe. With summer here, I’m starting to crave yummy salad recipes. A quick internet search brought up several hits similar to the recipe I used last summer, with this one from Atkins being most similar, except I have never used cucumbers.

This salad is extremely flexible for adaptation. I didn’t have lime juice nor fresh lemons yesterday, so used bottled lemon juice. I had particularly juicy mangoes, so instead of orange juice I just squeezed the pit.   

·  1 seedless cucumber, washed and cut into 1/2" dice (about 2 cups)

·  1/2 of 1 medium mango, cut into 1/3" dice (about 3/4 cup)

·  1/2 cup drained and rinsed black beans

·  2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (1 lime)

·  2 tablespoons orange juice (1/2 medium orange)

·  2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped

·  1 tablespoon jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped (about 1 small pepper; see tip)

·  2 teaspoons granular sugar substitute

·  3/4 teaspoon salt

·  1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

In a large bowl, toss all ingredients. Let stand 30 minutes for flavors to blend. Can be prepared up to a day in advance and kept in the refrigerator (bring to room temperature before serving).

Find the original recipe here, with nutritional stats.  

These colours and flavours go nicely with chicken or pork.

COOKING LESSON: CONVECTION OVENS

I roasted a chicken yesterday in a covered pan. Used the oven’s convection setting and thought it might cook in about ½ the regular time, but it wasn’t ready before I had to leave for the evening, so my brother took it out. He informed me this morning that one should cook meat UNcovered when using convection heat. Oops.