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Ensalada De Pallares

A Peruvian salad of boiled lima beans mixed with olive oil vinaigrette, red onion, tomatoes, and parsley.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Olive and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,539 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Ensalada De Pallares

Timeabout one hour

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beans

  1. Soak the pallares overnight or for at least six hours, changing the water two to three times.

  2. Boil the beans without salt in enough water to cover them, using high heat until the water reaches boiling point.

  3. Skim off foam and reduce the heat, then simmer for about one hour, adjusting time as needed for bean dryness.

  4. When the beans are plump and tender, remove them from the heat and drain; reserve the boiling liquid if desired for soup.

  5. Season the beans lightly with salt, and while they cool, prepare the vinaigrette.

Make the vinaigrette

  1. In a bowl, mix olive oil, white vinegar, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper, finely diced red onion, and diced tomatoes.

  2. Once the beans have cooled to room temperature, taste the vinaigrette and adjust seasoning if necessary.

Assemble and serve

  1. Gently fold the vinaigrette into the beans, then stir in parsley.

  2. Garnish with additional parsley and serve.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

306Calories
10 gProtein
14 gFat
37 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 10 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Lima Beans1/2 cup (85g) cooked108
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,539 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Olive + parsleytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,649 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Mustard + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Pallares (dried lima beans)
Form the main body of the salad, becoming creamy and tender after soaking and simmering.
Olive oil
Carries the flavor of the vinaigrette and coats the beans with richness and moisture.
White vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the beans and balances the richness of the oil.
Dijon mustard
Emulsifies the oil and vinegar so the dressing clings evenly to the beans.
Red onion
Adds sharp crunch and pungent flavor that cuts through the starchy beans.

The step that matters

Simmering the beans until tender. Dried beans must be cooked gently and long enough to become fully tender. Boiling too hard can break the skins, while undercooking leaves them firm and starchy. Salt is held back during cooking so the skins soften properly.

Swap the lima beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, vinegar, mustard, pepper, onion, tomato, parsley):

  1. Chickpeafits better
  2. Black-eyed peafits better
  3. Beansfits better
  4. Lima beansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, vinegar, mustard, pepper, onion, tomato, parsley. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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