Aguachile beans
This recipe, from our friend Courtney Geilenfeldt of @diningwithcourt, tastes like summer in a bowl. If you’re new to aguachile (literally “chile water”), it’s typically made with the freshest raw shrimp, lime juice, hot green chiles, cucumbers, and red onion. Courtney’s version, which uses tender beans instead of seafood, is a genius spin that’s bursting with flavor and texture.
Creator notes
Typically aguachile is made with shrimp, but since I used beans in its place, the nori adds a seafood flavor element to the dish. A great vegan hack! It's the perfect dish for hot summer days. Zesty, crisp, and cool, plus minimal effort to get you back to your summer lounging. Pretty enough to be served on a tostada at your summer dinner party, or scooped up with tortilla chips by poolside. – Courtney Geilenfeldt (@diningwithcourt)
Featured bean: Bayo
Other beans to try: Flor de Junio, Ojo de Cabra, Flor de Mayo
Take 'em from dried to cooked with our guide!
Ingredients
- 2 medium tomatillos, husked, rinsed, and quartered
- 4 serrano chiles, stemmed and chopped
- 1 garlic clove
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 nori/seaweed sheet
- ½ cup ice water (see note)
- 2 cups cooked Primary Beans
- ¾ cup fresh lime juice (about 6 limes)
- ½ English cucumber, or 1 small Persian cucumber, thinly sliced
- ½ red onion, thinly sliced
- ½ ripe avocado, peeled, seeded, and thinly sliced
- Tostadas or tortilla chips, for serving
Note: Blenders radiate heat as they run, which makes any herb turn dark quickly. The ice water helps keep the ingredients cool, resulting in a bright green salsa.
Steps
In a blender or food processor, add tomatillos, serranos, garlic, cilantro, salt, nori sheet, lime zest, lime juice, and ½ cup ice water, and blend on lowest setting until smooth. Blending any higher than medium will give your salsa a smoothie-like texture, which you want to avoid.
To a bowl, add your salsa mixture and cooked beans. Give it all a stir and taste to see if it needs another pinch of salt. I prefer to let this sit for at least a half hour to let the beans really soak in the flavor of the salsa, but of course you can serve right away.
Place beans and salsa into a serving bowl. Then add the cucumber, red onion, and avocado. Give the veggies a little pinch of salt to season them.
Serve with tortilla chips, or spoon onto tostadas.
