Black Bean Salad

I made enchiladas yesterday and was looking for a healthy recipe for a side salsa/salad that would go well with it. I found this recipe online. It turned out so well. We LOVED it. So colorful and super healthy. The fresh basil was amazing in it, which surprised me - I would never have thought of putting basil in something like this. Only change we made was we used cherry tomatoes instead of plum because they're sweeter.

Black Bean Salad Recipe

INGREDIENTS

· 1 (15 ounce) can of black beans, thoroughly rinsed, and drained (or 1 1/2 cup of freshly cooked black beans)
· 1 1/2 cups frozen corn, defrosted (or fresh corn, parboiled, drained and cooled)
· 1/2 cup chopped green onions or shallots
· 2 fresh jalapeño peppers, seeded and minced, or 1 whole pickled jalapeño pepper, minced (not seeded)
· 3 fresh plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
· 1 avocado, peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks
· 1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro
· 1/4 cup fresh chopped basil
· 2 Tbsp lime juice (about the amount of juice from one lime)
· 1 Tbsp olive oil
· 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of sugar (to taste)
· Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD

Make sure to rinse and drain the beans, if you are using canned beans.

In a large bowl, combine the beans, corn, onions, jalapeno chile peppers, tomatoes, avocado, cilantro, basil, lime juice and olive oil. Add sugar and salt and pepper to taste. (The sugar will help balance the acidity from the tomatoes and lime juice.) Chill before serving.

Serves 6 to 8.