Texas Caviar

A few years back we visited our friends who now live in the US. After a long drive down to New York State we were more than ready for a nice snack. We sat out on the deck, watching our kids get reacquainted as they climbed the backyard play structure, and one of my very best girlfriends (Karen) brought out a bowl of delicious looking salad. But she didn’t call it a salad – she served it with tortilla chips and called it a dip. The official name for this bowl of deliciousness is Texas Caviar. When you read the ingredients you will wonder why it’s called ‘caviar’ because it looks nothing like caviar (black beans and corn are definitely not the same size as fish eggs), but I guess the idea is that in Texas everything is bigger so there you go.

I have served this salad many times and every single time the entire bowl gets devoured. I have made a few adjustments to the recipe, as indicated below in brackets.

Texas Caviar

Ingredients:

Two cans black beans, drained and rinsed well (according to Karen the original recipe calls for pinto beans, but I have not tried it this way and neither has Karen!)

Two cans corn kernels, drained (not creamed corn, and you can use fresh corn cut off the cob when it’s in season)

1 medium red pepper, finely diced

1 medium green pepper, finely diced

1 small sweet white onion, finely diced (original recipe called for a small red onion, but I prefer sweet onions)

Handful of fresh cilantro, torn or chopped

Freshly ground black pepper (I added this)

½ cup cider vinegar (original recipe called for 3/4 cup vinegar and oil but this makes way too much dressing so I cut it back)

½ cup olive oil

1 tbsp sugar (it calls for a ‘pinch’ but I think it tastes even better with a bit more sugar because it really enhances the sweetness of the corn)

Method:

Mix it all together! Serve it as a salad or with tortilla chips, or even toasted pita. This recipe makes a lot of salad. I usually cut the recipe in half.

Variations:

Add some diced mango or diced avocado, or both!