Ethiopian Pinto Bean Salad With Shallots and Chili

The original recipe, Yemiser Selatta, uses lentils. I chose to use the frozen cooked pinto I have ready in the freezer.

Ingredients:
(serve 2)

• 1 cup cooked pinto beans
  
• 1 1/2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoons pure sesame oil
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 large shallots, peeled and cut into wedges
• 1 fresh hot chili peppers, stems and seeds removed, finely chopped
• fresh ground black pepper, to taste

1. Mix the vinegar, oil, salt and a bit of pepper in a bowl and beat together with a whisk.
2. Mix everything together with the beans and let marinated at room temperature for at least 30 minutes, stirring from time to time, before serving.

Mexican Grilled Peppers and Corn Salad

I'm improvising the Pinto Beans, Persimmon and Avocado Salad and calling it Mexican because I threw in to it habanero chile and cilantro. You see, they are basically the same except there's no persimmons in this recipe but more hearty with the addition of grilled bell peppers and corn. To the dressing, I added some honey. It did taste more flavorful than without.

If you have a tiny kitchen the size of mine and no grill. This is what you do when the recipe calls for grilling. Just make sure you raise the rack high enough that the vegetables don't touch and burn by the electric hot plate.


Serve it as a side with a Double Decker Quesadilla.

Ingredients:
(makes 2 servings)

For the Salad:

• 1/2 red bell pepper, grilled and diced
• 1/2 yellow bell pepper, grilled and diced
• 1/2 con of fresh corn, grilled, use niblets only
  
• 1 habanero chili, core and seed removed, diced
• 1/2 cup cooked pinto beans
• 1 avocado, peeled and diced
• 4 cherry tomatoes, quartered

For the Dressing:

• 2 TB extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 small clove of garlic minced
• 1/4 medium-size red onion, chopped
  
• 1 TB fresh orange juice
• 2 TB lime juice
• 1 TB organic raw honey
  
• Ground cumin
• Sea salt and ground black pepper to taste
• Cilantro leaves as garnish
  

1. Simply toss all the salad ingredients together with salad dressing.
   

Persimmon Salads

Once we walked pass the Japanese food fest area in front of Gourmet Market at Paragon. We saw this beautiful looking Japanese persimmon that costs 210 BHT EACH. Inside Gourmet Market the nationality-unknown persimmons are costing 29 BHT EACH. Why are Japanese fruits so unaffordable?

Anyway, I have always liked persimmons. My father used to teach us how to identify seedless persimmons. Something about the shape and size of the fruit that I can't quite remember and never get to verify. I also like them dried. I used to keep a jar of them and take one whenever I leave the house. Hence, it's shocking to hear that the man of my life is not all that into persimmons. And you know what I was going to do the moment I found out about that.

Here's a couple of persimmons recipes that I tried.

Pinto Beans, Persimmons and Avocado Salad
I boiled up a whole lot of pinto beans the other day for Refried Beans, hence the use of pinto beans instead of other varieties. I imagine black beans, chickpeas, and split peas would do just as well. The avocado was a little bit too ripe - they didn't hold the shape, looking mushy. Something is missing in the dressing but i just can't figure it out. Honey, maybe?

Ingredients:
(makes 2 servings)

• Cooked pinto beans
• 1 avocado, cubed
  
• 1/2 persimmon, cubed
• 1 Tablespoon green onion, sliced
• sea salt
  
• extra virgin olive oil
• cumin
• Tabasco sauce
  
• lemon juice and zest

1. In a mixing bowl, toss together olive oil, cumin, Tabasco and lemon juice. Stir in the beans and let them absorb the dressing.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together avocado and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and salt.
3. Add persimmons, green onions and avocado to the beans. Toss gently to combine. Season with salt if needed.
   

Persimmon Salad with Ginger-Maple Vinaigrette
We totally approved of this recipe - it blends the sweetness of maple syrup, tartness of apple cider vinegar and lemon juice, and ginger spice into a complex, pleasant gustatory experience. It felt Asian, perhaps because of the use of ginger. It also reminded me of a ginger chicken dish that my grandmother used to make. Or was it the carnivorous remnant inside of me that's speaking?

Although it's optional, the Parmesan cup is very easy to make, and a savory pleasure to behold. Depending on your serving size, you can use anything from 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan for an individual serving, as I did. Sprinkle some ground black pepper and flatten them over a piece parchment paper. Bake in 120C oven until golden in color. Quickly mold it into cup.

Ingredients:
(makes 2 servings)

• Pure sesame oil
  
• Extra virgin Olive Oil
• 1 tbsp Ginger, Minced
• 1 tbsp Shallot, Diced
• 1/2 tbsp Pure Maple Syrup
• 1 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 tbsp Lemon Juice and Zest
• 1/2 Persimmon, cubed
  
• Rocket leaves
  
• Sea salt and Pepper

1. In a mixing bowl, whisk together lemon juice, cider vinegar, salt and pepper. Macerate onions for at least 10 minutes.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon of sesame oil over medium heat. Fry ginger until soft.
   
3. Transfer ginger to onion mixture. Add the rest of the dressing ingredient. Toss in rocket leaves and persimmons.

Refried Bean

I used to wonder why is refried bean called refried bean. I thought they were like refried oil and got disgusted by it. Actually the word "refried" is a misnomer. It comes from refritos which actually means "well-fried". Now doesn't that sound agreeable to the taste buds than "refried"?

Since we don't have a pressure cooker, I used the regular method of cooking the dried pinto beans: boiling water. It took closed to 2 hours to get all 500gram of them soft and done (I freeze whatever amount that I'm not using for future cooking so I don't have to go through the 2 hours boiling time again). If you have a pressure cooker, it cuts down the cooking time a lot.

You can make a whole bunch of them and freeze the extra - It's easy to reheat refried beans: add water and refried beans to pan and fry them over heat.

Ingredients:
(makes 2 servings)

• 2 cups cooked pinto beans, strained
  
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
  
• 2 tablespoons pure sesame oil
  
• 1/4 cup water
• Salt to taste
• Cheddar cheese, grated

1. Heat pure sesame oil in a saucepan. Sautee chopped onions with a pinch of sea salt until translucent. Add cooked pinto beans and water. Season with salt. Stir in cheese until melted.