Three Bean Cucumber and Dill Salad

Summer is a great time to try new and refreshing salads. My mom would throw together a simple cucumber salad for almost every meal when I was little – that’s how ubiquitous cucumbers are in an Indian kitchen. We don’t eat Indian food everyday though. My family and I love all kinds of cuisines and we eat a wide variety of food. However, that doesn’t mean I can’t whip up something new with some of my childhood staples, and this recipe here is one such example.

Chickpeas or garbanzo beans and kidney beans are also very popular in Indian cuisine. Beans and lentils are hearty and a great source of protein and fiber. I find that they help reduce my junk food cravings and keep me satisfied. Beans are also one of the most inexpensive foods one can buy. So, inexpensive and healthy – need I say more? The addition of dill in the recipe gives the salad a bold flavor, and the red onions give it just the right amount of crunch. 

To bring together all these flavors, I created a creamy “mayo-like” dressing with cashews and lemon juice, seasoned with salt, pepper and chilli flakes. You can add in other seasonings of choice, but I felt this is the right combination for the salad.

Soaking the beans and cooking them is the most laborious step in making this salad. But hey, canned beans exist for a reason. If you haven’t planned in advance and want to make this easy salad in a jiffy, opt for canned beans. Make this a full meal by spooning some of the salad on a slice of toasted bread and voila – dinner is served 🙂

Three Bean Cucumber and Dill Salad

Recipe by theplantpaletteblogCourse: saladsCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

8

hours 

Cooking time

40

minutes

Ingredients

• Salad

• 1/4 cup garbanzo chickpeas

• 1/4 cup green garbanzo beans (or any other bean)

• 1/4 cup red kidney beans

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1 English cucumber, peeled and sliced

• 1/4 cup chopped red onion

• 1 bunch dill leaves, chopped (around 2 cups)

• Dressing

• 3 tbsp raw cashews, soaked in 3 tbsp water for at least 2 hours

• Juice of 1 lemon (around 1 and 1/2 tbsp)

• 1/2 tsp sea salt

• 1/4 tsp red pepper chili flakes

Directions

• Soak the beans all together with the salt overnight or for 8 hours.
• Pressure cook in an Instant Pot for 30 minutes Manual High Pressure. Alternately, you can cook them on the stove at medium heat for about an hour.
• Drain and rinse the beans when done. Note: the chickpeas will take on some color from the kidney beans, so if you don’t like that, boil the chickpeas separately. Cool the beans completely.
• Add the beans, cucumbers, onions and chopped dill into a bowl. 
• Blend all the dressing ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed.
• Pour the dressing into the salad bowl and mix well. 
• You can serve immediately but it tastes best when chilled in the fridge for at least an hour.

Notes

• You can make this with any beans of choice instead of the ones I specified in the recipe.
• You can make it with canned beans, in which case I would use no more than two 15 oz cans (should give you around 3 cups beans).