Three bean salad
A classic of American picnics and potlucks, where everyone brings a dish. This salad has to sit — over four hours the beans take up the sweet-sour dressing, and only then do they taste right. Two details are key: the dressing goes on warm, since warm it soaks into the beans faster, and the green beans go in just before serving, because in vinegar they lose their colour within an hour.
Your own work in that: 5 min.
- Green beans 10 min
- Dressing 5 min
- Combining 5 min
- Marinating 240 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneBlanch the green beans and ice them
Cut the green beans into 3 cm lengths and cook in heavily salted boiling water for 4 minutes, then plunge into iced water. They should stay vivid and crisp. Keep them separately in the fridge until the very end.
Ingredients: 300 g green beans · 400 g red kidney beans · 400 g chickpeas · 1 tbsp salt
Four minutes, then ice — and kept apart until the end.Rinse the tinned beans
Drain the kidney beans and chickpeas and rinse under cold water until the cloudy tin liquid is gone. Left on, it clouds the dressing and makes the salad needlessly salty.
Ingredients: 300 g green beans · 400 g red kidney beans · 400 g chickpeas · 1 tbsp salt
Soak the onion in cold water
Slice the onion thinly and cover with cold water for 10 minutes, then drain. The water takes off the harshness, so after four hours in vinegar the onion does not dominate the whole salad.
Ingredients: 1 pcs red onion · 2 pcs celery · 4 tbsp parsley
Warm the vinegar with sugar
Warm the vinegar with the sugar, salt and pepper just until the sugar dissolves; do not boil. Off the heat whisk in the oil and mustard. The mustard binds the dressing into a light emulsion.
Ingredients: 120 ml cider vinegar · 60 g sugar · 80 ml oil · 1 tsp mustard · 1 tsp salt · ½ tsp black pepper
Just until the sugar dissolves — no boiling.Pour the warm dressing over the beans
Combine the kidney beans, chickpeas, onion and celery and pour over the warm dressing. Warm, the dressing soaks into the beans faster rather than merely coating the surface.
Ingredients: 300 g green beans · 400 g red kidney beans · 400 g chickpeas · 1 tbsp salt
Warm dressing soaks in faster.Marinate four hours
Cover and marinate in the fridge at least 4 hours, ideally overnight, stirring once or twice. Freshly mixed, the salad tastes of vinegar and beans separately; marinated, it becomes one dish.
Ingredients: 300 g green beans · 400 g red kidney beans · 400 g chickpeas · 1 tbsp salt
Add the green beans before serving
Stir in the green beans no more than half an hour before serving. Vinegar turns their bright green to olive grey within an hour. That is why they are kept apart.
Ingredients: 300 g green beans · 400 g red kidney beans · 400 g chickpeas · 1 tbsp salt
Scatter with parsley and serve
Toss with the parsley, check the seasoning — cold mutes flavour, so it usually needs a pinch more salt — and serve chilled, with a slotted spoon, leaving the excess dressing in the bowl.
Ingredients: 1 pcs red onion · 2 pcs celery · 4 tbsp parsley
Before you start
Wax beans in the original
The classic American version is green beans, yellow wax beans and kidney beans. Chickpeas often stand in for the wax beans, being easier to find and firm after marinating.
A clearly sweet-sour dressing
The sugar-to-vinegar ratio looks high, but it is the character of this salad — it should taste like mild pickles. For less sweetness halve the sugar, but do not drop it, or the vinegar turns harsh.
Five days in the fridge
Without the green beans the salad keeps up to five days in the fridge and is even better on the second — good for making ahead and travelling. Keep the green beans separate and add them portion by portion.
