Charred Corn, Avocado & Black Bean Salad

Ingredients

• 1 x 400g tin black beans, drained, rinsed
• 1 red onion, finely diced
• 1 red chilli, deseeded, finely chopped
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 4 corn on the cob, husked
• 2 avocados, diced
• 30 g fresh coriander, chopped
• 2 limes, juice only
• Warm tortillas, to serve
• Soured cream, to serve

Method

1. Get a griddle pan over a high heat and leave it there until it's properly smoking — if it's not smoking, the corn will steam and go pale instead of charring. Lay the cobs on dry, no oil, and cook for 8–10 minutes, turning every couple of minutes, until you have proper black patches all over and the kernels give under a knife tip. Cool until you can handle them, then stand each cob upright and slice the kernels off in sheets.
2. While the corn cools, bloom the smoked paprika. Warm the olive oil in a small pan over a low heat, tip in the smoked paprika and swirl for 30–60 seconds until it smells warm and woodsmoke-fragrant. Raw paprika tastes dusty; bloomed paprika tastes of itself. Tip the lot into a small bowl to stop the cooking.
3. Whisk the lime juice into the bloomed paprika oil until it emulsifies into a glossy, terracotta-coloured dressing. Season generously with sea salt and a good grind of black pepper — taste it on the tip of a teaspoon, it should be punchy and a touch too sharp on its own.
4. Tip the warm corn into a large bowl with the black beans, red onion, chilli and chopped coriander. Pour over the dressing and fold through while the corn is still warm — warm kernels drink the dressing in a way cold ones never will.
5. Add the diced avocado last and turn it through gently with a large spoon, two or three folds only, so the cubes stay intact and slick rather than smearing into the beans. Taste, season, taste again — adjust the salt and lime now, not at the table.
6. Pile the salad into a wide shallow bowl at room temperature. Scatter over the extra coriander leaves, finish with a pinch of chilli flakes, and tuck the lime wedges around the edge for squeezing at the table.