Wheat Berry and Black Eyed Peas Salad

I had been thinking about whole grain salad lately ever since I had a bowl of wheat berries salad at Bocadillos a couple weeks ago. I love the texture and the taste of the wheat berries so I decided to make my own version of it. I love the fact that you can put in almost anything that you like. Here, I added black eyed peas, bell pepper, feta cheese and pine nuts. However, I should warn you that all those ingredients do add up ... so be careful because you don't want to end up with a salad big enough for a family of ten.


Ingredients:
2 cups of wheat berries
1 cup of black eyed peas
1 shallot, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, finely diced
1 bunch of spearmint leaves, cut into strips
1 orange bell pepper, cut into small sized cubes
3 roasted red bell pepper, cut into medium sized cubes
1/4 lb of goat feta cheese
toasted pine nuts
1 teaspoon of cumin seeds, toasted and grind
zest of 1 lemon

Direction:

• Wheat berries: soak for 8 hours, drain, simmer in a large pot with 7 cups of water and a bay leaf for 60 minutes, drain and rinse in cold water to stop cooking and to keep the grains plump
• Black eyed peas: soak for 8 hours, drain, cook for 20 minutes in a medium pot with enough to cover the beans plus 2 inches, season with salt and pepper in the last 2 minutes of cooking, drain and rinse in cold water to stop cooking
• Stir fry the diced shallots in a small pan with a small amount of olive oil for approximately 3 minutes until translucent, add in the chopped garlic and cook for another 2-3 minutes until fragrant and set aside
• In a large bowl, put in the cooked wheat berries, black eyed peas, shallots and garlic mix, strips of spearmint leaves, cube bell peppers, goat cheese, lemon zest, cumin seeds and goat cheese
• Mix everything together lightly with spatula until well combined
• Serve with or without the vinaigrette
  

The Vinaigrette:

Ingredients:
1 shallot, finely diced
1 teaspoon of dijon mustard
juice of 1 lemon
extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of pepper

Directions:

• In a small bowl, mix the Dijon mustard, lemon juice and the diced shallots together
• Drizzle an equal part of extra virgin olive oil into the bowl while whisking
• Season with salt, sugar and pepper