Pallares Alinados, Ica-Style Lima Bean Salad
The pallar is a large, flat, buttery lima bean that has grown on the southern Peruvian coast for thousands of years, and the region around Ica is where it is most beloved. Pallares alinados, sometimes called ensalada de pallares, is the everyday way to eat them: boiled soft, then dressed while warm with lime, vinegar, red onion, and the yellow aji that flavors nearly everything on the Peruvian table. It is a bean salad in the same family as a marinated three-bean salad, but the flavors are cleaner and sharper, and the big beans give it real heft. Butter beans from the freezer or the dried bag both work, though dried gives you control over the salt. Dress them warm, always. A lima bean is a sponge for acid when it is hot and a closed door when it is cold.
Ingredients
- 3 cups Lima beans, cooked from dried or frozen, drained while warm
- 1 Red onion, slivered and rinsed
- 2 Fresh tomatoes, diced
- 1 tbsp Aji amarillo paste
- 3 tbsp Lime juice
- 1 tbsp Red wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup Cilantro, chopped
- 1/2 tsp Dried oregano
Method
- Cook the lima beans until fully tender but still holding their shape, then drain them while they are still warm. Cook from dried if you can, since salted canned beans would undo the point of a no-salt dressing, and the warm beans soak up seasoning that cold ones would just wear on the outside.
- Sliver the red onion thin and rinse it under cold water for a minute. This tames the raw bite so the onion reads as sharp and fresh, not aggressive. Shake it dry.
- Whisk the aji amarillo paste, lime juice, and red wine vinegar together with the crumbled oregano. This is the alino, the dressing the dish is named for. The two acids and the fruity chile carry the whole thing, which is why it needs no salt.
- Pour the dressing over the warm beans and fold gently so they do not break. Let them sit 10 minutes to drink it in.
- Fold in the onion, tomato, and cilantro once the beans have cooled to room temperature, so the tomato stays firm and the herbs stay green.
- Serve at room temperature or cold. It is better after an hour and keeps two days in the fridge.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 190 calories, 11 g protein, 8 g fiber, 35 mg sodium. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement. How these are computed.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt. How this is computed.
