black bean and mango salad (vegan)

recipe by mb

just the recipe

what I was looking for

I came home from work yesterday and was starving so I wanted something super quick and filling. I had already decided that this was one of the recipes I wanted to cook from our new book of the month, Eat, Drink, and Weigh Less, so I flipped to it to see if there was any way I could make it even faster. My stomach was telling me to eat NOW and I didn't want to disappoint it.

what I made

I used the recipe for black beans with exotic fruit (page 162) for my inspiration, but I simplified it to the point where you can barely say I used the recipe at all.

grades for my version

healthy	A	This is nothing but plants. It's as good as it gets.
fast	A+++	Their version? Fast. My version? Instantaneous.
easy	B	There's nothing at all complicated involved here, except for cutting a mango. Look here for help.
cheap	B	Mangoes are not cheap fruit, but if you buy them on sale (which I did) they aren't that bad. And everything else in this recipe is super cheap.
delicious	C+	I'm going to be honest here and say that I should have followed the recipe from the book. It's not like it was all that complicated, and I think it would have tasted better.

yield

My version made enough for one extraordinarily hungry person for lunch, which is also about the size of a good side dish for dinner.

ingredients	M+W	mb	why?
black beans	15 oz. can	15 oz. can	no change
mango	⅓ cup, chopped fine	¾ cup, cubed	faster
crushed garlic	½ teaspoon	---	faster [1]
olive oil	2 Tablespoons	---	faster [1]
cumin	½ teaspoon	---	faster [1]
red onion	2 Tablespoons, minced	---	faster [1]
fresh lemon or lime juice	2 Tablespoons	---	faster [1]
red bell pepper	⅓ cup, minced	---	faster [1]
cayenne pepper	to taste	---	faster [1]
jarred salsa	---	4 Tablespoons	faster [1]
salt	to taste	to taste	no change
cilantro	---	1 Tablespoon, minced	tastier
Notes
[1]	I decided that I could get the same effect by just using jarred salsa instead of all the rest of that delicious stuff. Even though it's good salsa, the dish would definitely have been better if I'd used all the fresh ingredients. Oh well, there's always next time.

Open and drain (but don't rinse) the can of beans.

Chop the mango, using whatever technique you want, and add it to the bowl.

Add the salsa, stir well, and salt to taste. Garnish with the cilantro and serve.

(This may very well be the easiest recipe of all time.)

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