Cumin Spiced Black Beans-Quick & Delicious

A great pleasure in the culinary arts is stumbling on an incredibly easy, quick and flavorful recipe. I can devote hours to the preparation of some dishes only to receive praise for a five minute side. Everything may taste great, but sometimes these easy dishes find their way to top honors. A spiced black bean salad falls into this category.

Spiced Black Bean Salad

How to Make
Ingredients
16 ounce Canned Black Beans
2 -3 Tablespoons White Distilled Vinegar
1/3 Cup Green Olives-Pitted & Chopped(with or without pimentos)
2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil fortified with Plant Sterols
3-4 Tablespoons Chopped Onion or Scallion
1/8-1/4 Teaspoon Cumin
Hot Sauce to Taste

Rinse beans until water flows clear and drain. This freshens the canned beans and provides a more natural flavor. It also reduces the amount of salt added by the manufacturer. Add all the other ingredients. It best if you let this marinate for about an hour or two, but it can be served immediately.

Depending on the availability of fresh produce, you can build this into a main dish that’s great for a summer lunch. Add cucumber, tomato, zucchini, radish, apple, pear.... let me know what's working.

Spiced Black Beans & Natural Cholesterol Management

As we have emphasized, natural cholesterol management (NCM) targets a daily intake of 10-25g of soluble fiber, 2-3g of plant sterols and at least 500mgs of Omega-3 fatty acids from marine sources. You also want to replace saturated fats with monounsaturated fats. Collectively, these nutrients can drop your LDL cholesterol by 30%.



For a 5 ounce serving, this spiced black bean salad delivers 2g soluble fiber and .25g of plant sterols. Utilizing only olive, this dish is high in monounsaturated fats and saturated fats are held to 5.6% of total calories, less than the 7% recommended by the National Cholesterol Education Program. (see chart above for % of therapeutic levels achieved with a single serving)

The spice black beans also complement a tumeric barley pilaf (see barley pilaf blog for recipe and NCM nutrient levels). To round out this meal, serve with a grilled chicken with a raisin port reduction (blog post coming).