Jimre is not a bean person, but after reading Cooking up a Pot of Black Beans
on MJ’s KITCHEN, I got fired up and cooked up a small batch of beans in my pressure cooker last summer. MJ’s recipe yields 6 – 7 cups of cooked beans. Since my darling is not a bean man I pressure cooked only 2/3 cup of dried beans and I ended up with exactly 2 cups of cooked beans. I made that into a salsa. I served the bean salsa with a tray of crunchy tortilla chips, and you guessed it, my darling ate the chips, but not the salsa. Then I packed the leftover salsa into small containers and froze it. One day I took out a pack, thawed it and added 1/3 of a cup to a leafy salad with a squirt of red wine vinegar and olive oil. It surprised me how the salad came alive with the bean salsa. My darling is eating his beans now hehe. You may find MJ’s instructions on cooking black beans HERE. I can’t for the life of me recall where I got the salsa recipe though. It may have come from MJ or from someplace else or I could have cooked it up, I simply cannot remember.
BEAN SALSA
2 cups drained cooked navy beans
1 cup cooked corn
2 cups diced fresh tomatoes
1 red pepper finely diced
1/4 finely diced red onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp grated orange peel
juice of 1 orange
ground cumin to taste
salt and pepper to taste
• Soak 2/3 cup of raw navy beans overnight.
• Drain the beans.
• Add enough water to cover the beans a couple of inches on the top.
• Pressure cook beans for 12 minutes. When it is safe to open the pressure cooker test the beans for doneness. You may have to put the beans back to cook a little while longer if the beans are old or of a different type. If you don’t have a pressure cooker you will need more water and cooking time will increase also. Or you can simply use canned beans. It is OK to use canned beans. They will be a bit softer and care has to be taken not to crush them when mixing together with the rest of the ingredients.
• Drain and place the beans in a medium large bowl and let them cool.
• Meanwhile cook the corn.
• Add the cooked corn to the beans. If using canned beans let the corn cool down first.
• Prep the fresh ingredients and add to the bowl when the beans and the corn are both at room temperature.
• Add the seasonings, gently toss and cover the bowl.
• Refrigerate the salsa for 2 hours before using.
• Yields about 3 to 4 cups of bean salsa.
