This haricot beans with yacon and tomatoes salad it’s a burst of goodness, but I’m talking here real goodness. Fully packed with vitamins, minerals, textures and loads of colours.
It is one of my top favourite salads mainly because there is so much room for changing the ingredients.
It has to be a seasonal salad obliging is to gather in one bowl all the goodness of a particular season whatever that is.
This bean salad makes a beautiful one all throughout the year. I have made it again and again, this time in my favourite season of all. Spring.
So, I have used most of the ingredients raw in fact they all raw. Nothing got cooked apart from the actual beans.
In autumn I throw in loads of roast root vegetables. It’s a delicacy and a real gem whenever you decide having it. If you are a bean lover, go for it. Open the fridge see what’s in there and go for it.
Yacon…? What is that?
Yes, I know it’s not one of those everyday veg but I always buy it whenever available. It is a winter root. Lucky the one I find and buy it’s organic too.
I’m in love with this beautiful root veg. It’s juicy, crispy and tastes a little like apple although it has a different texture and sweetness.
It looks like a sweet potato shape wise but it has a dark skin. Yacon is also known as ‘ground pear’, ‘sun carrot’, or ‘apple of the earth’.
It was apparently a favourite of the ancient Incas, because of its subtly sweet flavour and superb crispness. Yacon can be eaten raw, but it is also lovely in soups, chopped or grated and added to a salad just like this beautiful haricot beans salad.
It’s quite sweet and juicy. So much so, this superb root can make a lovely substitute for apples in apple pies. Apparently that’s what the Incas used it a lot for. It’s an absolutely amazing root. We eat it in salads or raw as it is most of the time, just as an apple. I feel bad cooking it.
Need to try it in a soup but I just feel like it’s going to go unnoticed. Please do try it whichever way you may wish. It’s delish!
This is what yacon looks like ….
I do not have any other recipes that use yacon but truthfully, this can go in any of these salads. Try adding it to this quinoa salad or to this black bean salad.h
Haricot beans salad with yacon and sweet marmande tomatoes
Ingredients
Salad:
- 440 g haricot beans cooked
- 1 sweet marmande tomato
- 1 rebellion tomato
- 2 celery stalks with leaves
- 1 red onion
- 1/4 red pointed cabbage
- 1 beetroot shredded
- 4 tbsp yacon grated or cubed *
- 60 g Mixed salad leaves *
- 4 peppers sweet bite peppers *
- 1/2 tsp sea Salt
- 1/2 tsp black Pepper
Vinaigrette:
- 2 tbsp walnut oil
- 10 sprigs fresh parsley
- 1 pinch Sea salt
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 tbsp cider vinegar
Instructions
- Cook the beans. I used my pressure cooker and they were ready in 20mins. I’ve set up on 15 mins. When ready, take out in a colander and allow to cool and drain.
- While the beans are cooking or cooling, prepare all the other vegetables by washing, chopping, cutting or grating them accordingly.
- Start chopping the onions, peppers, celery, cabbage, tomatoes, shred the beetroot and grate the yacon. Put them all in a larger bowl. Add the salad leaves too.
- Prepare the vinaigrette by chopping the parsley super, super fine, add the oil, the crushed and finely chopped garlic, salt, pepper and vinegar. You can put all these ingredients in a jar and give them all a good vigourous shake or you could chop them roughly and place in a small food processor giving them a good few pulses.
- Add the beans to all the other chopped, cut or grated ingredients. Mix well, pour in the vinaigrette and serve.
Notes
Tomatoes… I have chosen marmande and rebellion tomatoes because they are not as juicy but are sweet and very tasty. They are not always available so feel free to use beef tomatoes or any tomatoes that you may like or prefer. Yacon can be replaced by apple, I do make this salad with apple that I cut jullienne and sprinkle with a generous amount of lemon juice so that it does not change the colour immediately. 
Rachel says
Definitely a recipe I’d make again and again as a huge beans fan. I didn’t have the yacon so have used apples as suggested. To be honest I’ve never heard of this veggie before. I am intrigued now and I wanna try it if I can ever find it. Apple worked beautifully. Used some really nice and sweet cherry tomatoes. Thanks for this recipe. Delicious!
Ramona says
Hi Rachel,
I am so happy you liked this haricot beans salad recipe. I love beans too and I can never have enough beans tbh. Yacon is a seasonal veg, sweet and juicy, juicier than an apple even and very pleasant. Definitely look for it around autumn time. Worth trying it. Let me know if you found it.
Stine Mari says
I love all the names of the yacon, especially ‘apple of the earth’. And what a delicious looking salad with tons of flavor and texture!
Ramona says
Thank you Stine. Yes, indeed, quite a few names for this beautiful veg tasting almost like a fruit. Beautiful, I love yacon too and we always enjoy it whenever we get a chance to find it.
Kim @ Three Olives Branch says
This is definitely how I love my salads: packed full of mix ins and tons of fresh ingredients! So delicious and perfect for these hot months.
Ramona says
Indeed, thank you Kim!
Jere Cassidy says
This is so colorful and full of amazing veggies. I have never heard of yacon and thought it would be like a yucca, interesting though you can substitute and apple instead.
Ramona says
Thank you dear Jere,
yes, yacon is a very interesting juicy, sweet root, worth checking on that we eat it in salads or literally as it is. It’s a delicious one indeed.