This isn’t really a salad. It’s more like nachos with some lettuce. It’s also more assembly than actual cooking, but when you’re eye-deep in books on ancient baptismal homilies, any meal that isn’t take-out is a win in my book. It’s a complete rip-off of my favorite salad at a local chain of restaurants. After debating picking one up on the way home from spin class one night, I realized that I had all of the ingredients on hand to make it myself. It’s also easily scalable, so you can make one or six of these salads, and it’s all the same.
My best friend joked in her wedding toast that I taught her that you can pretty much put salsa on everything or wrap it in a tortilla. Salsa on a salad – case in point. Calypso Café serves their version with a light barbecue sauce for dressing, but between the salsa and sour cream, I don’t find any other dressing necessary. Something about all of the different textures and flavors together makes this a very satisfying dinner salad. You can skip the rice and add chicken or throw on some red onions and tomatoes if you’d like, but don’t skip the tortilla chips. That crunchy layer at the bottom makes it.
Calypso Black Bean and Rice Salad
Inspired by Calypso Café
Yields 2 salads
Ingredients
Tortilla chips
1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 tsp Southwest/Mexican seasoning
1 cup cooked brown rice
Shredded cheese
Sour cream
Salsa
Preparation
Layer tortilla chips on a plate or the bottom of a bowl. Spread romaine lettuce on top. Top each salad with 1/2 cup of brown rice. Toss black beans with seasoning in a bowl and microwave for 1 minute or until warm. Spread 1/2 of black beans on each salad. Top with shredded cheese, sour cream, and salsa to your liking.
