Black Beans, Cauliflower Salad with Sesame and Pine Nuts

Cauliflower Salad, not many people are a big fan of this vegetable and I am one of them. I can’t eat cooked cauliflower. Okay let me rephrase it, I eat it but I never enjoy it. Even though I am not a big fan of this flower, I do love Cauliflower Salad.

This Cauliflower Salad with black beans, sesame and pine nuts, sounds mouthful but oh it is delicious.

In Singapore it’s summer all year round and I am not at all a fan of hot weather or summer season but I love to create summery, light and specially salad recipes. For a while now I am off gluten, grains and carbs, the only thing I am trying to eat is vegetarian protein and what’s better than beans and lentils!

Yesterday I was looking in to my fridge and thinking what kind of vegetarian, protein and fibre packed salad I can make. I had some home made harissa paste so I decided to make french lentils salad. Whilst I was cooking my lentils, I got busy doing something else 😛 and my lentils were completely overcooked and I had all my mise en place ready for the salad. But luckily I had canned black beans in my pantry so I decided to make this Black Bean Salad instead and it was delicious.

This salad is perfect for Sunday brunch or for potlucks or even really good as a healthy supper. It has sweet and spicy taste of harissa, crunch from pine nuts and sesame and umami flavour of cauliflower.

If you are on diet and want to eat something healthy, do make this filling salad and stay healthy.

Ingredients:

• 1 can black beans
• 1 small red onion small diced
• 1 red capsicum small diced
• 1 cup cauliflower florets
• ¼ cup pine nuts
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• 3 tbsp or to taste harissa paste
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• Salt to taste
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp cottage cheese (optional)
• Coriander and mint for garnishing

Instructions:

Wash the black beans for 5 minutes under the running water. Drain it completely.

In a pan heat 1 tsp olive oil, add the cauliflower. Fry on a very high flame till the cauliflower is golden, slightly cooked but has a crunch. Season with salt and black pepper. Keep it aside.

In the same pan, add the pine nuts and sesame seeds. Roast them till they are golden brown.

Mix rest of the olive oil, half of the sesame seeds, harissa and lime juice. Whisk it well.

In a big bowl, mix black beans, cauliflower, salad dressing and onion, capsicum. Mix it well. Adjust the seasoning.

Sprinkle the pine nuts, rest of the sesame seeds, coriander and cottage cheese.

Serve cold and enjoy!

Tips:

1: You can omit the cottage cheese if you want to keep it vegan.

2: You can add walnuts or hazelnuts instead of pine nuts.