Southwestern Black Bean & Corn Salad

Many variations of this recipe on the Internet refer to the dish as a Mexicali Corn & Black Bean Salad.  As concerned as Californians are about cultural appropriation, I'm surprised there is tolerance for such blasphemy.  Besides, why should California get any credit at all for this recipe?  It contains no fruits or nuts [cue the laughter soundtrack].

Most of the recipes I researched contained tomato and avocado.  Because I was planning on serving this along side my Crock Pot Chili, the recipe for which can be found here, I elected not to include tomatoes.  And because I was planning on enough salad for leftovers, I elected to keep the avocado out of the mix and served it instead under spoonfuls of the salad topping off the presentation with some southwestern seasoned sour cream.

You can omit those last steps and just add chopped avocado to the ingredients if you're planning on serving the salad just once, or if you want a decidedly more boring presentation. If you add tomatoes, I recommend using halved cherry or grape tomatoes.

Almost all recipes I viewed online used red onion in this salad.  I like red onion, but only had green onions on hand and they worked just fine.  The garden freshness of green onions with very little of the sulfur undercurrent of a red onion perhaps better complimented the subtle taste of the black beans and sweetness of the corn.

Ingredients
For the Salad
1 15.5-oz can black beans, drained and rinsed (like, Goya)
1 11-oz can whole kernel corn, drained (like, Green Giant Steam Crisp White Shoepeg)
1/2 small red bell pepper, seeded and finely diced
1/2 small orange or yellow bell pepper (or 1/4 of both), seeded and finely diced
1/2 fresh small jalapeño pepper, cored, seeded and finely diced
1/2 tsp garlic, minced
2 green onions, finely chopped
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, stemmed and chopped (you can substitute 2 tbsp of the the stir-in paste variety like, Gourmet Garden)
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp smoked salt (like San Francisco Salt Company Cherry Wood)
3/4 cup picante sauce or salsa (like, Newman's Own)

Ingredients
For the Presentation
1 ripe avocado, peeled, seed removed and sliced in half
4 tbsp sour cream
1 tsp southwest seasonings (like, Emeril's Southwest Seasoning)
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp white wine vinegar

The Recipe
Mix all the ingredients for the salad together in a mixing bowl and stir well to combine. Allow to sit covered and refrigerated for 4 to 6 hours.

Mix the sour cream, vinegar, honey and southwest seasonings together in a squeeze bottle and allow sit refrigerated for 4 to 6 hours.

Peel the avocado when prepared to serve.

Place the halved avocado on a salad plate; spoon an ample helping of the salad mixture on top.  Using a back and forth motion, squeeze the southwest sour cream dressing over the top.

You can make your own southwest seasoning by combining and mixing these ingredients, and keeping in an air-tight jar:

Ingredients
For the Southwest Seasoning
2 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp dried oregano
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes