Staying true to the Kidney and the black foods that nurture it, we continue our culinary escapade this time with a salad.
The base for the salad are black beans. Soak them for couple of hours,throw the water away, add fresh water and boil them until they are soft. If you have pressure cooker this should take no more than 15-20 min, a rice cooker will also do the job, but it will take a little longer. If beans make you bloated you could let them sprout before you cook them. Wash the beans, put them in a colander and cover the colander with a towel. Depending on the temperature in your home they should sprout between 12 and 24 hours. Once you see a small sprout they are ready to be cooked.
The other ingredients are sprouts, fresh onion and garlic, and mushrooms – I chose black tree mushroom because of its color and its salad friendly texture. You can choose any mushroom you like but it would be more beneficial it were black or dark color - the goal here is to gather as many black colored foods as we can to benefit the Kidney. You can add parsley or cilantro for their aroma and health benefits – parsley is Kidney tonic and tonifies Kidney Qi. Cilantro cleans the blood and benefits the Liver.
Chop up the above listed ingredients and mix them together with the already boiled beans (besides the sprouts – those you simply add whole to the ready mixture). Add some salt, flax seed or olive oil, and squeeze a good amount of lemon in the salad. I always like to add a little bit of vinegar together with the lemon to take away the sharp sour taste that the lemon sometimes leaves.
If you prefer moisture and feel that the black beans make the dish a little dry you can cut a tomato or two in small pieces and add it in. I also suggest to leave the salad for an hour or two in the refrigerator to allow the different aromas and juices to blend in nicely.
Enjoy!
