Corn and Mung Bean Salad

Corn and Mung Bean Salad
Originally uploaded by Marni Molina

I've been toying with the idea of making a go at Weight Watchers again. I tried the program once before (a few years ago), but fell off the bandwagon after about a month. Unfortunately, I'm still larger than I'd like to be so I pulled my old WW materials off the shelf a couple days ago and started reacquainting myself with the program. I'm trying to figure out if WW can be adapted to a vegan lifestyle, and I it looks like with some work, it can.

I was wondering how I'd get nutritional info for recipes in order to calculate WW points and then I remembered Vegetarian Times always provides the required data. Not only that but their recipes are conveniently compiled in a searchable database on their website. Score!

In the latest issue (October 2008) of Veg Times there's an article called Bean Basics. Four recipes are provided, three of them are vegan, and all of them seem really simple. When I saw the one for Corn and Mung Bean Salad, I knew that's the one I wanted to try because I've had a container of mung beans in my pantry for months without a recipe to motivate me to try them.

Follow along at home...

Corn and Mung Bean Salad
Serves 6 (servings are about 2/3 cup each)
Vegan & Gluten-Free

• 1 cup dried mung beans, rinsed and drained
  
• 1 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels or 1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
  
• 1 bunch green onions, finely chopped (1/2 cup)
  
• 1/2 cup lime juice
  
• 1/4 cup plain gomashio or seaweed

1. Soak beans in bowl of cold water 5 hours, or overnight.
   
2. Place beans in saucepan, and cover with cold water. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 15 to 20 minutes, or until beans are soft, but not mushy. Drain and rinse under cold water.
   
3. Transfer to bowl. Stir in corn, green onions, lime juice, and gomashio. Season with salt and pepper. Chill before serving.

Per Serving:

• 166 cal
  
• 7 g prot
  
• 3 g total fat (less than 1 g saturated)
• 25 f carb
  
• 0 mg chol
  
• 341 mg sod
  
• 7 g fiber
  
• 3 g sugars

• 3 WW points

This is a nice recipe. The flavors are fresh and alive with an Asian flair. The beans are filling and savory and the corn provides a sweet accent. I didn't have gomashio (a Japanese seasoning made of sesame seeds and salt) so I used Eden Shake instead. The sesame seeds provide subtle flavor and nice texture while the seaweed adds some saltiness to the mix. And it's only 3 WW points per serving! Nice!

Hopefully, I'll find more and more tasty but healthy recipes with low WW point values to share.