Ingredients
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup sugar (see notes)
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 pound Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 (15 ounce) can black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (11 ounce) can super sweet corn, drained (see notes)
1 red onion, diced
1/2 cup diced green bell pepper
1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
1 cup chopped cilantro (from 1 bunch)
Instructions
In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, sugar, white wine vinegar, chili powder, and salt.
Add tomatoes, black-eyed peas, beans, corn, red onion, and bell peppers. Stir to combine.
Stir in cilantro. Cover and chill at least 1 hour or overnight to blend flavors. Serve chilled or at room temperature.
Recipe Notes
Regular canned sweet corn or frozen corn may be substituted for the extra sweet corn. The closest measurement for either option is 3/4 cup, but feel free to use the whole 15-ounce can of corn.
1 sweet onion or a bunch of green onions may be substituted for the red onion.
A single bell pepper may be substituted for the 1/2 cup each of chopped red and green bell peppers.
In the Midwest, we like the sugar in this recipe. I personally think it tastes great. BUT. If you think 1/3 cup sugar sounds like too much, feel free to use less. Perhaps add 1 tablespoon at a time. A couple of readers have suggested this is way too sweet and they were disappointed. It breaks my heart. You can always add more vinegar and salt if you want to try to save your batch. But I swear, this is how we eat it in America’s Dairyland. And we love it.
I didn’t know I had Aunt Patti’s recipe in here, so I made this one instead. I think I may have liked it better, but it needed more spice. Maybe double the chili powder? I used White shoepeg corn. We liked the amount of sugar in it. I used a 28oz can of Hunt’s Petite Diced tomatoes drained well because I didn’t want to chop tomatoes and we didn’t have roma tomatoes, these worked out well.