I’ve been tasked with bringing a vegetarian dish to a gathering where the hosts are serving a big pot of chili. Needs to also be gluten free. This will be the main entree for the Veg guest, and a side dish for everyone else. Any ideas?
Corn and black bean salad.
One can black beans, rinsed
One can whole kernel corn, drained
1 cup fresh tomatoes, small dice
Half a red onion, small dice.
5-6 fresh green chilis, small dice (jalapeno for spicy, anaheim for mild, or a mix of the two)
One firm avocado, small dice
One bunch cilantro, chopped fine (without stems)
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup olive oil
Kosher salt
Cracked black pepper
Red pepper flake
Toss in a bowl, chill in the fridge, serve cold.
It’s important to rinse the black beans, or it will make the salad look muddy instead of bright colors. And don’t use an avocado that is too ripe, or it will mush up in the salad. We’re not making guacamole here.
Gluten free beer.
I like the corn and black bean salad idea. I used to make something just like that all the time, and kind of got away from it.
Thirding that salad. You can bulk it up by mixing it with a bag of shredded lettuce.
There are numerous corn bread recipes that are made with rice flour. If it needs to be vegan, you can use a plant-based milk and egg substitute.
I actually prefer it with rice flour, because the texture is much lighter than when it’s made with wheat flour.
Light texture cornbread?
Get a rope.
LightER. 
I would not do the corn and bean salad but that’s because I put loads and loads of beans in my chili.
I would do a taco chip salad. Keeping all ingredients separate so that people can add their own toppings.
Chips which can be any kind of corn chip (fritos, tostitos etc)
Diced onions
Diced tomatoes
Shredded lettuce
Shredded cheese
Black olives
Sour cream
And the best part about doing a taco salad is you can put the chili on top of it. Yummy!
Without looking it up, is this a whoosh? I assumed that cornbread was made with corn flour. I didn’t realize that wheat flour was a typical ingredient in cornbread.
You can never go wrong with chips and salsa, or half salsa-half refried beans.
Or guacamole. Who doesn’t love a good guacamole (rhetorical)?
if you want a good salad without beans, and one or more people are choosing it as their main event, this one is perfect. And if you want to add black beans, why not?
GRILLED CORN, AVOCADO AND TOMATO SALAD
1 pint grape tomatoes
1 ripe avocado
2 ears of fresh sweet corn or 1 bag frozen, see note below*
2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
HONEY LIME DRESSING
Juice of 1 lime
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp honey
Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste
1 clove garlic, minced
Dash of cayenne pepper
(*Note that this is just as good this time of year with a thawed bag of frozen corn, not grilled)
Remove husks from corn and grill over medium heat for 10 minutes. The corn should have some brown spots and be tender and not mushy. Cut the corn off the cob then scrape the cob with the back of your knife to get the juices. Set aside and let cool.
Slice the tomatoes in half. Dice the avocado and chop the cilantro.
HONEY LIME DRESSING
Add all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.
Combine the sliced tomatoes, avocado, cilantro and grilled corn and honey lime dressing and mix gently so everything is evenly coated. Be careful not to mash the avocados. Let the salad sit for 10-15 minutes to let flavors mingle. Enjoy.
Most recipes for cornbread have at least some added wheat flour. It gives texture and body to the bread. Otherwise you get something that is a bit…dense.
Corn bread made only with corn meal or flour generally has the flavor and texture of a brick. Other grains are used to improve the texture, usually in a 1:1 ratio.
Enchiladas? Vegetarian means you can do them with vegetables, beans and cheese, plus sour cream. Or you could make vegetarian quesadillias - this one has a pineapple salsa (and you can use corn tortillas).
Or what about a Mexican rice bowl, with coriander, lime, rice, black beans, tomatoes, onion and guac, or zucchini burrito boats?