Tepary Bean, Corn, Chicken and Chips Recipe

We tried a new food this weekend thanks to our Chow Locally CSA.  A bag of Tepary Beans from Ramona Farms, a local Native American farm.  I looked up Tepary Beans and found that they are native to the Sonoran Desert here in the American Southwest and Mexico.  They come in a variety of colors and are one of the few beans not descended from the "common bean".  They thrive in our desert climate because they are drought resistant and actually do better with less moisture.

Other fun Tepary facts are that they provide more protein, calcium, iron, zinc, magnesium, phosphorus and potassium than the common bean.  And the best fact of all is that they cause less "digestive discomfort" and gassiness than the common bean.

I'm sold!  I adapted a recipe from our CSA to make a (easy) and crowd pleasing recipe for my family's dinner last night.

Tepary Bean, Corn, Chicken and Chips
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small red onion, diced
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon coriander
*1 jalapeno, seeded & diced (optional, I skipped)
1 cup corn
2 cups cooked tepary beans
1-2 chicken breasts - cooked and shredded (or 1 can of Trader Joe's chicken)
1-2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
corn chips
Fresh cilantro, Parmesan cheese, sour cream and salsa for garnish

Directions
1. Heat olive oil in sauté pan over medium high heat. Add onions, cumin, chili powder and coriander and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add jalapeno, corn, beans and chicken. Cook for another 4-5 minutes. Add lime juice and season with salt and pepper.
2. Garnish with fresh cilantro and shredded Parmesan cheese.  Serve with chips, salsa and sour cream.

Cooking Tepary Beans
Remove stones.  Soak in a bowl of water overnight.  Rinse the beans and put in a pot with water covering them.  Bring to a boil then lower to simmer with the lid cracked so steam escapes.  Simmer for about 90 minutes or until tender.