Black Bean and Corn Salad

Before I begin talking about this recipe, I need to send a quick shout out to Ms. Shweta Shah. Along with playing the roles of Anita’s freshmen year roommate and our suitemate from sophomore year, she is an amazing friend, and the co-creator of this dish. So here’s to you Ms. Shah. We’re thinking of you!

Now on to the back story for this dish… During the summer between sophomore and junior year, Shweta and I decided to stay on campus and take an MCAT prep course. I’m not sure how many of you are familiar with the Princeton Review course, but let me tell you, it tends to take a bit of a toll on both your bank account and your free time. Because of this, Shweta and I started looking for cheap and fast ways to feed ourselves. Normally, Chipotle is my go-to for fast and delicious food, but given my limited income, I had to erase that one from my “grocery” list. As soon as this happened, however, it felt like something was missing in my life. Okay, maybe I’m being a bit extreme…but the fact remains that I missed it and needed to find an alternative. Enter – Black Bean and Corn Salad.

This is an inexpensive and relatively guilt-free food. It can be eaten as a salad or as a salsa (depending on the amount of lettuce you add). It only has 4 key ingredients, and the rest of the recipe depends on what you have sitting in your fridge. The ingredients I list below describe my ideal salad, but feel free to alter the veggies as you see fit. Just as a side note, this recipe is easily doubled, tripled, etc. for parties.

What you need (feeds 2-3 people):

• 1 can black beans
• 1 can corn
• 1/2 cup salsa
• 2 tbs sour cream (cottage cheese can be substituted)
• 1 diced cucumber
• 1 diced vidalia onion
• 2 diced medium tomatoes (or a handful of cherry tomatoes)
• 1/2 head romain lettuce
• 1 1/2 tbs minced cilantro
• 1 diced poblano pepper
• 2-3 jalapeno peppers (optional)
• Garlic salt to taste

What you need to do:

1. Rinse the cans of black beans and corn and add them to a large bowl.
2. Add the cucumber (my favorite veggie to add to this dish), onion, tomatoes, lettuce, and peppers to the beans and corn and mix. Please note that all of these veggies aren’t necessary for this dish. Feel free to mix and match!
3. Add the sour cream and salsa. Mix.
4. Top with the cilantro.
5. Eat with a fork…spoon…tortilla chips…flour tortilla…corn tortilla…you get the idea.
6. Enjoy!

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