Sprouting goodness

One of the healthiest things out there to eat are sprouted legumes; especially moong beans. The beans are fairly inexpensive (you can find organic ones for about $1.25/lb), and very easy to sprout at home. Once sprouted, you can use them to make a nice, nutritious salad; or lightly saute' them with some garlic and red chillie powder for a tasty snack.

According to the way I sprout them, it takes me 4 days to get a yield. The method is very easy, and takes about 2 minutes per day.

You will need:

• A medium sized mason jar ($1.25 at Cliff's Hardware , if you don't have old jam/pickle jars lying around)
• Moon beans (about $1.25/lb at Rainbow)
• A piece of mesh cloth , big enough to cover the mouth of the jar
• An oven (or a warm, dark place)

Here's what you'll do for 4 days. You can start the sprouting either in the morning or the evening; lets assume you start in the evening.

1. Day 1, evening: soak about 1.5tbsp of moong beans in a jar full of water; close the lid. Put the jar in the oven.
2. Day 2, morning: empty the water out; rinse the beans thoroughly (fill jar with water and shake for a few seconds) and refill with water; put it back in the oven.
3. Day 2, evening: empty out the water, rinse the beans again. Take off the lid, cover with mesh and fix the mesh with a rubber band around the neck. Rinse the beans and drain the water (but don't shake the water out). Place the jar sideways in the oven.
4. Day 3, morning: pour water into the jar, swirl it around  nicely a few times, and drain. Repeat 2-3 times, and drain. Place the jar sideways in the oven.
5. Day 3, evening: repeat step 4 above.
6. Day 4, morning; Day 4, evening; Day 5, morning; Day 5, evening: repeat step 4 above.

At the end of day 5, you'll have the sprouted moong beans ready to eat.

Now, the astute reader will realize that if you have 4 jars sitting around, you can get a conga line of sprouting moong going. In the above scheme, on Day 2 when you cover the jar with the mesh, you can start a new jar with beans soaking in water. And so on. So, you can now have fresh sprouted moong every evening, ready for you.

Here are some pictures. All were taken in the evening, and show the sprouting in various stages:

I took them out of the jar, put them in a bowl and into the fridge. The jar was then refilled with more moong beans and water and the process started again.

I will take the moong; add to them some lemon, salt, chopped tomatoes, bell peppers and some chopped scallions and make them into a salad for lunch tomorrow.