Greek-Japanese two bean salad

About this recipe

‘Meet, eat, repeat’ is the life lesson that inspired this recipe – you can find it here.

This salad is dressed with familial meaning that predates me; it was the side dish that in fact stood centre table of dinners shared by my mum and dad, in their early days as a couple. My mum was a north London girl of the 1960s, and sailed the on the ship of Captain Birds Eye. My dad however, having grown up in Cyprus, was used to fish going from sea to skewer in the same time it took to cook a fish finger. So that both of their dinner needs were met, my mum would cook a whole white flatfish for my dad, and fish fingers for herself. And she would make this salad to go with – it was a place they could meet in the middle and eat similar food. At the start of their relationship, this salad helped them to meet, eat, repeat.

I’ve freshened up the salad by adding Japanese ingredients and flavours. The edamame beans work well with the creamy butter beans, which are classically Greek. It’s also a fitting recipe for today’s life lesson; salads are all about layers and building flavour. The mirin-mint vinaigrette sweetly connects the whole dish. And this recipe is all about bids for connection – two cultures, two beans, two people.