Black Eyed Peas Salad

Quick and easy summer salad with black eyed peas, cucumber, carrots and onions; great for lunch, side dishes, picnics and bbq parties!

Last month we tried to follow a no carb diet and did it successfully for 7 – 10 days! Then we switched to low carb diet. When Valli, announced blogging marathon (BM) # 42 with no carb recipes, I immediately picked the theme. Well, actually I was going to skip this month’s BM but had to do this BM for another theme.

When Valli announced the BM, she kind of hinted that she was expecting some of us to take up miscellaneous food, theme and I am one of them. After pondering about it for few days, I decided to do this BM with misc food as one theme and with no hesitation, no carb / low carb recipes as my other theme. Misc food is next week and this week it is 3 days of no carb / low carb recipes.

Whenever we get health & weight conscious and decide to lose some weight, we go on a no carb or low carb diet. I don’t believe in liquid or crash diets but rather try to eat healthy, combined with some exercise.

Being a south Indian, rice is my major weakness and if given a choice between rice and roti or any Indian bread, I always prefer rice. And whenever rice is served with curries, I do tend to over eat. To overcome this, I usually avoid rice and curries when on weight control.

Our diet is usually either grilled / baked chicken or fish with some salad or very little rice. It is usually salads though. Southwestern Chicken Salad from last month is one recipe I made when on low carb diet. On week nights I make grilled chicken or fish with some salad and on weekends we indulge on some biryani. 😉

Weekday lunches are salads or roti with lot of vegetables. Regardless of what I eat, I avoid or control my carbohydrates intake. When on no carb diet, it is usually salads for lunch and this time it was black eyed peas salad. Yes, I have fall in love with this legume and this is my new legume love affair.

I already mention about my other legume love affair few years ago. My affair with chickpeas has ended once I fell for black eyed peas.

We eat very early dinner and this salad is perfect for lunch. If hungry before dinner time, I snacked on some nuts or fruit. There is no specific recipe for this salad. Just throw in the vegetables of choice for the salad and season it with a simple chili powder, salt, lime juice and extra virgin olive oil dressing. It is rich in fiber and quite filling.

Black Eyed Peas Salad Recipe

Black Eyed Peas Salad

Quick and easy summer salad with black eyed peas, cucumber, carrots and onions, dressed with chili and lime

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Course: Light Meal, Lunch, Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Servings: 1

Ingredients

• 1 – 1 ¼ cup Frozen Black Eyed Peas I used 365 from Whole Foods
• 2 mini Cucumber diced or ½ – ¾ cup diced Cucumber
• 1 – 2 medium sized Carrots cut into circles or ½ circles
• ½ small Red Onion Diced about ¼ cup when diced or add more if required
• ½ tsp. Chili Powder
• ½ + ½ tsp. Salt
• ¼ – ½ tsp. Garlic Powder I used ½ tsp.
• ⅛ tsp. Cumin Powder
• 1 tbsp. Lime Juice
• 1 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Cilantro ~ Coriander Leaves for garnish

Instructions

• Cook frozen black eyed peas in some water with ½ tsp salt until tender, about 6 – 8 minutes. 
• Drain the water, run black eyed peas under running water to bring peas to room temperature and keep aside.
• Cut the vegetables to desired size.
• Make the dressing by whisking together extra virgin olive oil, lime juice, chili powder, ½ tsp. salt, garlic powder and cumin powder.
• Take all the vegetables and cooked black eyed peas in a bowl. 
• Pour the dressing over it and toss. Taste and adjust salt and chili powder.
• Garnish with cilantro and refrigerate for at least 15 -20 minutes for flavors to blend in.  Then serve.

Notes

• When using dry black eyed peas, soak for 5-8 hours or overnight and cooked until tender. When using fresh black eyed peas, boil in water until tender and fresh peas cook very fast.
• Raw green mango is a good addition to salad. If using, adjust lime juice accordingly depending on how sour the mango is.
• Feel free to use fresh garlic for the dressing. I use garlic powder as I always have it in the pantry.

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This day in:
2008 – Chicken Biryani
2012 – Kheema Dum Biryani ~ Ground Goat Biryani

Events: This is my entry for Radhika’s My Legume Love Affair # 73, an event started by Susan currently organized by Lisa.