Mung Bean Sprouts

These tasty little power-houses are not only packed with nutrients, but they’re cheap, easy to make and can be stored forever as dry goods before sprouting. A little kitchen science, it’s also a fun way to introduce your kids to growing their own food. (Should also be known that every jar of sprouts your kid helps make, offsets letting them binge watch an entire season of Paw Patrol…#fact) Mung beans are a great place to start with sprouting.

Faff Factor: 2/5 • Flavour: 3.5/5 • Fridge-to-face: 5 days (with very little work)

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(Produces 2-3 cups of sprouts)

Ingredients
1/2 cup Dried Mung Beans
1 tsp acid (lemon juice or apple cider vinegar)
Large glass jar
Cheese cloth or perforated lid

Method:
DAY 1
1. Thoroughly rinse mung beans in a sieve under running water.
2. Place the rinsed mung beans in glass jar and fill with water. Add lemon juice or cider vinegar. Set aside to soak overnight. The mung beans will expand as they soak. (Pic #1 below)
DAY 2
3. The following day, drain all the soaking liquid and rinse the mung beans with fresh water. (For me this means pouring the soaking liquid out through the holes in my perforated sprouting lid, re-filling the jar with fresh water, screwing lid back on, pouring water out through lid again).
4. Secure the top of your jar with a piece of cheesecloth and an elastic band, or a perforated sprouting lid.
5. Set aside out of direct sunlight (I wrap my jar in a t-towel), at room temperature. (Pic #2 below)
DAY 3
6. Rinse mung beans in fresh water, essentially giving them a drink, and drain. Set aside, out of direct sunlight, at room temperature.
DAY 4
7. You may see some little tails appearing on the mung beans. Give them a try and let your taste buds be the judge. They should be sweet and crunchy, not hard or bitter. Rinse and set aside if they need more time. (I typically leave mung beans soaking for one more night)
DAY 5-7
8. Follow Day 3 steps until your sprouts are ready.
9. Rinse one more time, and leave jar upside down to drain well.
10. Store the sprouts in the fridge. They will continue to grow, but more slowly.

Modify:
– Lentils also sprout beautifully. I tend to sprout one variety at a time, (or in separate jars) as different sized sproutables take different lengths of times to sprout.
– DON’T SPROUT KIDNEY BEANS. Raw kidney beans are high in lectins, which, not to put too fine a point on it, may very well make you barf or sh*t your pants.

EAT:
– Enjoy sprinkled over salads, soups, or by the handful straight out of the jar
– They add the perfect texture to these Kale Fritters
– Try this awesome Sprouted Mung Bean Chili
– Add to Buddha bowls, rice bowls, noodle bowls or any type of bowl…

Faff notes:
– While these are made over a number of days, it’s less than 2 minutes per day. No chopping or cooking required.
– Dried mung beans and lentils can be stored for a long time in your cupboard. I moved house twice, over 8 years, with a bag of mung beans I was determined to do something wholesome with. House number 3 was the winner and they have produced jar after jar of crunchy, nutritious awesomeness.

Flavour Notes:
– Sprouts are the best, loved by all in our family. I love them in and on everything, while my wee one will wolf back bowls of ‘sprout salad’ (a bowl of sprouts with salad dressing). One of her favourites in her school lunch box.
– Great things to have in the fridge for tszujing up bowls of soup or salads, and guaranteed to illicit ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ from unsuspecting lunch guests.

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