I first tried this Texas caviar at my friend Amy’s house, and I was surprised at how much I liked it. I have tried other Texas caviars through the years, but none of them ever impressed me all that much. However, this one has the perfect blend of sweetness and tartness, plus the smoothness of avocado. Don’t be overly concerned about the cup of sugar; the marinade is drained before serving, so most of it is not consumed.
My friends who ate this tonight gave it high praise, so I’m not the only one smitten with Amy’s Texas caviar. I followed Amy’s lead and served it with Fritos Scoops. I am quite sure we can find healthier delivery systems if we tried, but the salty Fritos really are a lovely compliment.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 cup sugar
1 can black eyed peas, rinsed well
1 can shoepeg corn, rinsed well
1 can pinto beans, rinsed well
1 jar red pimentos, rinsed well
1/2 diced green pepper
1/2 diced red onion
1 avocado, diced
cilantro
parsley
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
salt and pepper to taste
Mix first 3 ingredients in a saucepan to make marinade. Bring to a boil and let cool. Combine all ingredients in a bowl except for avocado, cilantro, parsley, salt and pepper. Pour marinade over this at least 2 hours before serving. Drain just before serving. Add diced avocado, herbs, and salt and pepper to taste.
Mom Mom's Apron 
My version is different (I don’t care for black eyed peas so I substitute black beans and garbonzo beans), like you said there are so many versions.
I make a big batch and we eat it with tostitto chips and then the next night we use the leftovers as a topping on a bed of lettuce. I generally add a another avocado on the second night.
Thanks for chiming in, Claire. You’re probably thinking Yankees shouldn’t be making this, huh? What is your marinade like? I’ve seen lots of recipes with Italian dressing.
Hope you are well!
Salsa (hate to admit from a jar but just as easy to make your own) and lime juice mixed together (I actually think the lime juice is to coat the avocado to keep it nice looking so I generally mix the salsa in with all the other stuff, then when I put the avocado in at the end I then add the lime juice and then do the final mix at that point).
The rest of my recipe is the same as yours although I rarely have pimentos so I just omit them.