Black rice, Bean salad, and Pan-fried Butternut Squash

'Kadhambam', as they say in Tamil, is a catch-all word for 'combination/mixture' of unlikely things.

Kadhambam is what this dinner turned out to be one weekend:
- a tiny butternut squash was beckoning to be sliced and pan-fried with just a touch of salt+pepper
- a cup or so of black rice bought on a whim from the bulk food store was waiting to be cooked
- last of the Pickled Pearl Onions needed to be used up to make room for others
- a quart jar full of 4-bean salad was developing flavor for over a week and ready to be enjoyed

Black rice was cooked in the rice cooker much like brown rice, with the last of the pickled pearl onions tossed in and a light sprinkling of salt.

Four Bean Salad: Soak and cook white beans, black beans, chickpeas, and pinto beans till firmly cooked, not mushy. Add some chopped zucchini and onions, if preferred. Toss with favorite balsamic vinaigrette.

I make a batch of this Bean Salad (3-bean, or 4-bean, sometimes even 5-bean) on and off and leave it in the fridge to use as salad topper for quick meals - adds the proteins and carbs to the green salad and doubles as a dressing/vinaigrette.