Wheat Berry, White Bean and Edamame Salad

Sometimes I get distracted at a grocery store by sales. A pound of frozen edamame was $1 at T&T and I snapped it up, despite not knowing what to make with it. I luckily found space in my tiny condo-sized freezer until I spotted this delicious salad at Keep Your Diet Real, who spotted it from an ad in a magazine.

A cup of shelled edamame didn’t seem like a lot, so I started shelling some of my frozen edamame.  It was well over 40 minutes, and through my entire 400g bag, that I finally shelled 1 cup of edamame beans.  Gah!  I will not do that again since I know there are bags of pre-shelled edamame, too. Even if I see them for sale again, I will not succumb to the temptation. 😛

This was a light yet hearty salad at the same time. It was hearty with one of my favourite whole grains: wheat berries. Nutty and chewy, they can really hold their own in a salad. Sweet cherry tomatoes, creamy edamame beans and white beans are added for further textural and nutritional contrast. The dressing is a plain red wine vinegar vinaigrette and the red onions add the bit of kick needed for such a simple salad.

This is my submission to Deb for this week’s Souper Sundays, this month’s My Legume Love Affair, hosted by Simona at Briciole, and to PJ for this month’s Healing Foods featuring tomatoes.

Wheat Berry, White Bean and Edamame Salad

4 cups water
1/2 cup dry wheat berries
1/2 cup of white beans, rinsed and drained (black beans would work well for colour contrast, but I didn’t have any)
1 cup frozen, shelled edamame, thawed (this was a bit less than 400g of shelled edamame)
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped (yellow or orange would make a nice contrast for colour)
1 cup chopped grape tomatoes
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
1.5 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste

1. In a medium sized sauce-pan, combine water and wheat berries and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 45 minutes or until wheat berries are tender. Place in a strainer and run under cold water to cool quickly, drain well.

2. Combine the wheat berries with the remaining ingredients in a medium bowl.
Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate up to 8 hours in advance.

Serves 4-6.