Warm Mussel Salad with Red Kidney Beans and Chili, Mexican Style
With the discovery of the New World, some very exotic things began to enter European life and culture. The traditions of pre-Columbian American cooking became closely intertwined with European ones. First and foremost came a countless number of sauces, many of them varied by adding tomato or avocado.
Gradually, “mother” sauces emerged and became the building blocks and basis for modern sauces.
Spicy dishes are the specialty of Mexican cuisine, and of many American cuisines in general. Hot chili pods go into almost every dish, even guacamole, although that sauce is usually mild.
Lots of tasty dishes in Mexico are made with beans. Beans are a people's food in general. I read somewhere that many great people loved bean dishes. Napoleon Bonaparte, for example, was a fan of simple food, and beans were among his favorites.
Among the wealth of bean dishes in Mexican cuisine there are many very tasty ones where beans are combined with all kinds of foods: fish, meat, vegetables, mushrooms and even seafood.
I once tried an exceptionally tasty dish: a warm salad of seafood, vegetables and hot pepper. A mussel salad where the combination of red kidney beans and mussels, set off by the pleasant heat of chili, lets you truly enjoy your food, much like a Mexican red bean salad.
Ingredients
2 servings
- Mussels 200 g
- Bell pepper 1
- Chili pepper 1
- Carrot 1
- Garlic 3-4 cloves
- Onion 1
- Tomatoes 1
- Red kidney beans 1 can
- Vegetable oil 2-3 tbsp
- Spices: salt, black pepper to taste
Step-by-step recipe
- The salad is made with frozen mussel meat or mussels in their shells. Either way, the mussels need to be cooked. If they're fresh-frozen, they're most likely farmed, so it's worth bringing them to a boil first and pouring off the first water. Then cook them for 2-3 minutes in fresh water. Cook mussels in shells with the shells on, throw away any that don't open, and remove the cooked mussels from their shells. Try to pull out the dark beard inside the mussel meat: it's tough and inedible. In the end you should have the amount of mussel meat you need.
- We'll make the mussel salad with red kidney beans. Red kidney beans don't grow here, or rather I don't grow them for various reasons. But they're sold in cans, which work fine for a warm appetizer.
- Heat olive oil in a deep frying pan. Quickly fry slightly crushed garlic cloves in the oil. As soon as the garlic starts to brown, discard it. The garlic's job is to flavor the oil. But don't overcook it, or the mussel salad will have an unpleasant smell.
- Peel the carrot and dice it. Fry the carrot in the oil until lightly browned.
- Peel the onion and slice it thinly lengthwise. Slicing it this way keeps the onion from falling apart as it cooks. Fry the onion together with the carrot.
- Remove the seeds and stem from the bell pepper and cut it into thin rings. Add the pepper to the vegetables and fry everything for 10 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Add finely chopped chili pepper to taste. Season with salt and ground black pepper. Keep cooking covered over low heat for 5-6 minutes.
- Rinse the canned red kidney beans in cold water to wash off the liquid from the can. Add the beans to the vegetables and cook for 5 more minutes.
- Meanwhile, scald the tomatoes with boiling water and peel them. It's better to remove the seeds, especially if the tomatoes are ripe and red. It's up to you, though.
- Cut the tomatoes into thin slices or wedges. Add the tomatoes to the vegetables and beans and keep cooking for 5-6 mins, until the tomatoes soften and release their juice.
- Put the mussel meat on top of the vegetables, stir, cover and simmer over low heat for 5-6 minutes.
- Put the salad on plates and serve. The salad shouldn't be cold but slightly warm.
- Mussel salad makes a great appetizer or even a side for fish.
- Sometimes the salad is also drizzled with a little wine or balsamic vinegar, literally a few drops, if you like.
| Serves: | 2 servings |
| Calories: | 120 |
| Prep: | 20 mins |
| Cook: | 1 h |
| Total: | 1 h 20 mins |
| Category: | Salads |
| Cuisine: | Mexican cuisine |
| Rating: |
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5
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