This salad is a perfect meal for warmer days or as a packed lunch since it’s eaten cold. Fresh, nutritious, crunchy, and creamy, it will satisfy both your taste buds and your belly. You can cook the mung beans a day in advance and keep them drained and in the refrigerator for an even quicker meal.
For a long time, I would buy mung beans, only to have them expire, since I didn’t have a way to prepare them in an easy and tasty way. Making this salad was an experiment, and luckily and to my own surprise everyone liked it. 😀 I always get excited when that happens. There is some special kind of joy in inventing a new recipe and it being a success. I know some people will eat healthy food just because it’s good for them. Even if they have to sacrifice on the taste. That is not the case for me at all. If it’s healthy, then I will find a way to make it tasty as well. Eating food is not only about getting your nutrition in, it is something to enjoy as well as something to gladly share with others. And it helps if you have kids. 🙂 Kids will not eat it if it’s not tasty. Doesn’t matter how “good for them” it is. So yes, I was happy this mung bean salad was a success and I am sharing it with you.
The ingredients of this salad are pretty flexible too. If you wish, you may replace the greens of my choice for something different. I think Pak-Choi or Kale would also go nicely. If you don’t have mung beans, you may also use brown lentils. Nuts can be easily replaced with some sunflower and pumpkin seeds. I hope you will like it!
Refreshing Mung Bean Salad
Ingredients
For the salad
- 500 g mung beans
- 4 tomatoes
- 2 spring onions
- ½ large cucumber about 240g
- 250 g greens of your choice I used romaine lettuce
- 180 g frozen corn
- 1½ teaspoons salt
- 60 g coarsely chopped nuts of your choice I used walnuts and almonds
For the dressing
- Juice of 2.5–3 lemons
- 1 tablespoon tahini
- 1 large clove of garlic crushed
- 1 teaspoon salt
- a pinch of ground cumin
- a pinch of black pepper
Instructions
- Soak the mung beans in water overnight. (optional)
- In the morning, rinse and place them in a pot with plenty of water (the water level should be about 3-4 fingers above the level of the beans) and 1½ teaspoons of salt. Cook for about 30 minutes or until softened.
- While the beans are cooking, finely chop the tomatoes, spring onions, cucumber, and greens. Add the corn, chopped walnuts, and almonds, and set aside.
- Once the beans are cooked, drain and rinse them with cold water to cool them down and stop the cooking process. Place the drained and cooled beans in a large bowl and add the prepared vegetable and nut mixture.
- In a small jar, mix the ingredients for the dressing, close the jar, and shake well. Pour the dressing over the salad and mix thoroughly. Adjust salt or lemon juice to taste.
