If you are looking for a brilliant instead of boring Bean Salad? Then this Bean and Corn Salad will become a favourite. Beans, corn, avocado, capsicum, and red onion make this Bean Salad fresh and vibrant.

For other easier to read salad recipes go here!

 

Ingredient Shopping Tips for the Bean and Corn Salad

The fresh corn can be replaced with frozen corn or to avoid cooking altogether you could use canned corn kernels. I also search for organic corn which is by default not genetically modified. Do you know that one of the main reasons that most corn is genetically modified is to make it resistant to the herbicide glyphosate (think zero and roundup)?  This herbicide is said to kill our beneficial gut bacteria and cause developmental and reproductive issues. If you are interested, you can read a short WebMD article about “Herbicides and Your Health” here.

For convenience, I have used canned beans instead of cooking my own. I used a 400 gram can of beans which is about 14 ounces.  I do ensure I choose a can with a “BPA free” lining. The can ingredients should be simply beans, water, and perhaps salt though “no added salt” versions are now available.

The avocado needs to be ripe yet firm otherwise the cubes of avocado will get squashed during mixing.

I usually prefer red capsicum (pepper) because it is sweeter, however, I often use half of a red and half of a green to add extra colour.

If you find raw onion difficult to digest, then simply replace it with thinly sliced green onions (scallions).

The rapadura or panela sugar in the dressing is simply dried sugar cane juice. It is very different from the refining process of most sugars. Even raw sugar is refined white sugar with some molasses thrown back in.

 

Preparation Tips for the Bean and Corn Salad

The beans are rinsed to reduce the starch and any added salt. It is claimed by many that it also helps to remove some of the gas-producing oligosaccharides. I’ll leave that experiment entirely up to you!

The rapadura or panela sugar is added for those who are used to the sweeter bean salads that are typical of many restaurants. To wean the family off needing sugar for taste, slowly reduce the amount of sugar each time the salad is made.