Meat Free Monday: Szechuan Black-Eyed Pea Salad

Today’s meat-free recipe comes from our friend and reader, Nicole.  As you may recall, she’s also the one who introduced me to Vegetarian Times magazine.  So she sends me recipes and let’s me borrow magazines, plus was a big supporter as I trained for my first 1/2 marathon…hmmm, I think I owe her something special.  :-) 

So this recipe wasn’t a big favorite with my kiddos and my husband thought it was okay, but they are not big bean eaters.  Beans, beans the musical fruit…you know how it goes, which you would think my boys would be all over them for that very reason!  Loud bodily functions cause major giggles in a household of boys, sigh.  Anywho, I digress.  Well, I was never big into beans until I started this meat-free Monday thing.  This chick could not live on salads alone because I would be famished all the time.  But beans are a great meat-free option that is filling and very versatile.  So I personally LOVED this dish.  And my friend’s addition of plain ramen noodles made it much more of a meal than a side dish in my opinion.  Oh, and I finally discovered szechuan sauce.  I’ve always had it at restaurants, but have never cooked with it.  Delicious!  Hot, but delicious!

So if you want the original recipe without all my notes, click on the printer-friendly version.  That will take you to the recipe on the Vegetarian Times website.  But I have added my and Nicole’s notes in the recipe below.

Szechuan Black-Eyed Pea Salad

click here for printer-friendly version

Serves 6

• 2 14–oz. cans black–eyed peas, rinsed and drained –next time I’m going to try using the Costco sprouted beans I discovered
• 1 medium green bell pepper, chopped (1 cup)  – I used red bell pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 1 jalapeño chile, seeded and finely minced (2 Tbs.)  – I omitted to keep down the heat
• 1 clove garlic, minced (1 tsp.)
• 1 avocado, cubed (1 cup)
• 2 Tbs. lemon juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 Tbs. red wine vinegar
• 1 Tbs. Szechuan sauce  – I cut this in half, but then ended up adding extra to my own bowl
• 2 tsp. sugar

Directions

1. Toss together black-eyed peas, bell pepper, onion, jalapeño, and garlic in large bowl. Toss avocado with lemon juice in separate bowl. Add avocado to black-eyed pea mixture.

2. Whisk together oil, vinegar, Szechuan sauce, and sugar in bowl used for avocado. Add black-eyed pea mixture, and toss to mix.

*As mentioned, my friend suggested tossing in cooked ramen noodles, plain without the seasoning packet.  You can either boil them as the package indicates, or I like to soak mine in hot water for about 10 minutes, drain and then stir fry them a bit in sesame or coconut oil. 

Nutritional Information (original recipe without the noodles)

Per serving (3/4-cup): Calories: 223, Protein: 5g, Total fat: 14g, Saturated fat: 2g, Carbs: 20g, Cholesterol: mg, Sodium: 438mg, Fiber: 6g, Sugars: 3g