Warm Bean and Chicken Breast Salad

Name: Warm Mexican Bean and Chicken Breast Salad with Corn and Pickled Onion
Prep time: 1 h
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Cuisine: Mexican cuisine
Ingredients: Chicken breast fillet 1; Red kidney beans 0.5 cup dried (or 1 small can) (85 g); White beans 0.5 cup dried (or 1 small can) (85 g); Canned corn 0.5 cup (80 g); Red onion 1; Mixed herbs (dill, parsley, cilantro) 0.5 bunch; Grape vinegar 1 tbsp (plus 0.5 tsp from the onion marinade for the dressing); Olive oil 3-4 tbsp; Water for soaking and cooking dried beans; Salt, black pepper, pickled chili peppers to taste

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1 h 30 mins

A warm, tasty salad with beans, chicken, canned corn and a zesty dressing is an easy dish that works as an appetizer or a meal on its own. The idea was inspired by the tasty and fairly elaborate salads of Mexican cuisine and various taco fillings.

What sets Mexican cuisine apart is probably its blend of ancient traditions from peoples who historically lived on opposite sides of the world. Aztec cooking developed separately from European cooking until the late 15th century, and only the arrival of European settlers set off the mixing of the two cultures and culinary traditions. Modern Mexican cuisine really is a symbiosis of Aztec and European cooking, though completely unique.

Mexican ingredients often seem a little exotic to us. There are avocados, used widely, from which people make avocado salad or wonderfully tasty guacamole that goes perfectly with corn chips. There are all kinds of snacks in corn flour flatbreads, tortillas. And, of course, lots of different chili varieties, eaten raw or fried in oil.

In its original form, Mexican bean and chicken salad is very hot, though tasty. Since we just aren’t used to such spicy food, it’s always worth adjusting the “fiery” part of most recipes to your taste. Take hot chili con carne, or just chili: meat with peppers and red kidney beans. It’s a fairly hot dish, though it can always be made with a manageable level of heat.

We’ll make the bean and chicken salad with two kinds of beans, red and white. Note that raw red kidney beans contain a fair amount of toxic proteins called lectins, which are completely destroyed by cooking. For the salad we’ll also grill a chicken cutlet without spices. I had an idea to use bulgur in the salad, as for tabbouleh; I should try it.

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Ingredients

2 servings

Chicken breast fillet 1
Red kidney beans 0.5 cup dried (or 1 small can) (85 g)
White beans 0.5 cup dried (or 1 small can) (85 g)
Canned corn 0.5 cup (80 g)
Red onion 1
Mixed herbs (dill, parsley, cilantro) 0.5 bunch
Grape vinegar 1 tbsp (plus 0.5 tsp from the onion marinade for the dressing)
Olive oil 3-4 tbsp
Water for soaking and cooking dried beans
Salt, black pepper, pickled chili peppers to taste

Step-by-step recipe

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Beans and pickled onion

You can make the warm bean and chicken salad with canned beans or, if you can, cook the beans yourself. Red and white beans are sold canned in jars of various sizes, or dried, which just need cooking. Choose whatever suits you.
To make the salad for two, you need 0.5 cup of each kind of dried beans (85 g) or one small can of each. Dried beans need soaking in cold water for several hours, or better yet overnight. Soak and cook the red and white beans separately.
Marinate the onion. Peel the red onion and cut it into very thin strips. Put the onion in a small bowl and pour over 1 tbsp of grape vinegar. Let the onion marinate for up to 1 hour.
Cook the beans. Cook them in plenty of water at a very gentle simmer with the pot uncovered. Beans easily fall apart as they cook, their skins burst, and they turn to mush. So don’t rush it, and don’t add baking soda, salt and so on to the water. Just cook the beans until tender (about 1 hour) at a very gentle simmer. Drain the cooked beans in a colander and transfer them to bowls, covered with a saucer. If you’re using canned beans, rinse off the canning liquid.

Chicken and dressing

Grill the chicken breast. To cook the fillet, you can follow the method for a chicken cutlet, just searing the meat and skipping all the spices. Chicken breast is very easy to pound flat, to a thickness of about 2-2.5 cm.
Heat the grill: a charcoal barbecue, an electric grill or a grill pan. Put the pounded chicken breast on the hot grate and cook for 4-5 mins. As soon as the underside starts to brown, flip the chicken. Cook until fully done. If the very center isn’t cooked through, flip the meat and cook a little longer, but after the first 4-5 mins don’t cook either side for more than 1.5-2 mins; flip more often. The chicken should be very well done and release no liquid when cut.
Make the dressing from herbs and oil. Wash the mixed fresh herbs very well and pat them dry with a paper towel. Strip all the leaves from the sprigs, discarding the stems, and chop them very finely with a knife. In a small bowl, mix 1 tbsp of the chopped herbs (4 g), a pinch of salt and coarsely ground black pepper. Stir and add 0.5 tsp of the grape vinegar the onion is marinating in. Wait 10 mins for the salt to dissolve. Then add 3-4 tbsp of olive oil and mix the oil and herbs thoroughly with a fork. Keep the rest of the herbs for serving.

Assembling the salad

Lay the beans, corn and chicken on a plate. On a large plate, starting from the edge, lay out stripes of drained canned corn and the cooked red and white beans. Leave room on the plate for the grilled chicken. The beans and corn shouldn’t be mixed before serving. The salad looks quite colorful and is served that way, then mixed right at the table or just before dishing out.
With a sharp knife, cut the cooled but still slightly warm chicken breast in half lengthwise, then slice it on the diagonal into narrow strips. Put the chicken in the remaining space on the plate with the beans and corn.
Add the onion and herbs, then dress the salad. Squeeze the leftover grape vinegar out of the marinated onion and scatter it along the edge of the plate, separating the strips so they don’t stick together. Sprinkle the rest of the chopped herbs along the edge. As a nice bonus, add a few small pickled chili peppers, or, just as fine, sprinkle with 1-2 pinches of coarsely ground chili. Drizzle the dish with the prepared dressing, better in the center than all over. The salad will be mixed and the dressing will spread evenly.

Serving

Serve the salad warm. The salad is very colorful and a treat for the eyes, and its aroma tickles the nose. Don’t chill it: serve it right away while the grilled chicken is still a little warm.
Mix the salad and dish it out onto plates. Once it’s on the table, mix the salad with a spoon and dish it out onto plates with high rims. It looks very pretty served in colorful ceramic or earthenware. Be sure to garnish the salad with sprigs of cilantro and dill.
Tasty bean and chicken salad is a great appetizer in every sense, though it can easily be a main course too.