Summer Lunch Salads!

The lunch salads are inspired by my daughter who loves salads in easy to carry mason jars! This figure friendly salad has “curried” black beans, grape tomatoes, bosc pear, spinach leaves, mandarin oranges and avocado! At lunch time, shake and pour the contents of the jar into a bowl and dive into this delicious and nutritious salad! The spices in this dish add a layer of flavor and are also used for their Ayurvedic health benefits.

You can substitute any beans or chick peas to make the curried black beans. I love the taste of the black beans, so I used them in this recipe. Also add whatever veggies and fruit you have on hand or the ones you like to create a variety of salads with this one recipe!

What’s more is that you can also make a couple of batches of the curried beans on the weekend and store them in the refrigerator to use in salads during the week. The curried black beans freeze well too.

For the curried black beans-

• 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1/8 teaspoon asafetida
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 cup cooked black beans. If you are using the canned black beans, rinse and drain the beans.
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seed powder
• 1/2 teaspoon coriander seed powder
• salt to taste
• juice of 1/2 lime or 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon or orange juice

For the salad-

Chop the following into bite size pieces:

• 8 grape tomatoes,
• 1 bosc pear cored,
• a handful of spinach leaves,
• 1/2 of an avocado (save the other half with the pit in it)
• a cup of mandarin sections such as Del Monte (no sugar added) drained.

To make the curried black beans-

1. Heat a pan over medium heat, add the olive oil, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, the asafetida and turmeric powder. This is the classic tempering technique in Indian cooking. Give it a quick stir.
2. Add the cooked black beans, cumin seed and coriander powders and the salt.Sauté the beans until their skin is a little crispy. 
3. Add the lime/lemon/orange juice, stir and remove from heat.
4. Set aside and let it cool.
5. Meanwhile, chop the veggies and fruit.
6. Layer the beans and the veggies and fruit in the mason jar and store in the refrigerator.
7. Your yummy salad is ready and waiting for lunch time or any time 🙂