Monday, February 13, 2012

Sprouted Mung Salad






Notice the little mung beans in this salad. They are sprouted and  packed with nutrition.

Sprouting is a super easy way to add extra  protein , nutrition, enzymes, and antioxidants to your diet. Sprouts are very low in calories and low in carbs to boot!

Why all the talk about sprouts today?

My salad is full them~~

Today, is reveal day for the Secret Recipe Club. It's an opportunity for me and you to meet other bloggers.
My Secret Recipe Club assignment for February is from a delightful blog called  My Hobbie Lobbie authored by My PhotoTrisha Mumbai. She covers a variety of recipes for cooking and baking including some authentic Indian cuisine ( Yum) . Her recipes look great and there are quite a few of her recipes  that I still  want to try, ( like her recipe for Palak Paneer that is still calling my name..),   but the recipe that I selected to make for today's club is Trisha's "Sprouted Moong Salad."

Being Vegetarians, we eat a huge salad every night, so I am always looking for something different.
Aside from the usual romaine, tomato, cucumber, red onion, red cabbage etc. , I wanted something new! This was it..This salad is very different with the mung sprouts..

Mung is a small bean that is dark green in color. It is sold in Indian food markets, Chinese food markets,health food stores, and on Amazon. It makes the typical bean sprout that you find in Chinese recipes.

Sprouted Moong Salad

Ingredients:
A handful of Sprouted Mung ( See how to sprout the mung beans below)
1 small onion, chopped ( I used red onion)
1 tomato, chopped
1 cucumber, chopped
1 green chilly, finely chopped (optional)
Fresh coriander leaves, chopped
Salt, to taste
Lime juice, to taste

Directions
Mix the sprouts, onion, chilly, tomato and cucumber in a bowl. 

Season to taste with salt and lime juice. 

 Garnish with the chopped coriander leaves.

You can also switch this salad up a bit by adding some plain unflavored natural yogurt, beaten well, to the salad veggies in the bowl in the first step mentioned above. Continue by seasoning and garnishing it.

Again, refrigerate till ready to serve.

 
See the little beans starting to open and sprout..




Why Sprout?
Sprouts are germinated seeds or legumes. The sprouting process makes the vitamin and enzyme content of the bean skyrocket! In addition, sprouts contain high amounts of digestive enzymes that help your digestion. If you want to boost your nutrition and your energy, try adding sprouts to your diet.

How to sprout

Years ago I had a spouting kit that was basically a jar with a mesh lid



When we moved, the kit was lost
misplaced so I started using a regular jar and then a colander and it worked.
If you want to try to sprout, you can use any jar and follow these simple instructions.


1.Place the mung bean ( or lentil) in a jar and cover with water. Soak overnight. 8-12 hours
2. In the morning, pour off the water and either pour the mung beans into a colander and tip it sideways so no water accumulates or leave it in the jar, make sure it is drained well, tip on its side and leaning forward.
3. Rinse a few times a day..and then tip on its side and again lean it forward.
4. Do this for 3-4 days and you will have sprouts... After they sprout to the desired length refrigerate them




Sprouts in my colander Day 1

Mung Beans starting to sprout Day 3
They needed another two days to really get going and get much bigger; never mind, they were really tasty small too.
If you don't want to try the colander method you can buy a sprouting kit and follow their directions Or watch this video
I looked on YouTube for a short, but good video with great instructions for sprouting. I found this one:
Video:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-1V4vtV8Yo


   
The mung bean salad was fresh and delicious and different than our typical nightly salad. I could have used an additional day or two of sprouting for my sprouts to be a little larger ( It might have been because the weather has been really fridgid and we keep our heat low; those poor little beans probably would have liked it a little warmer)
I was happy that this recipe reminded me about sprouting and how healthy it is to include this simple ingredient in your diet to boost the enzyme and nutritional value of a meal.

As always, I enjoy taking my time searching through my assigned blog for the perfect recipe to make for reveal day. I am still without an oven, so the salad was a perfect choice.
We enjoyed it.. and will make it again.

Secret Recipe Club'
Secret Recipe Club Hostess for Group B Suzanne of Thru Bugs on my Windshield
Secret Recipe Club Founder  Amanda of Amanda's Cookin'
Thank you so much to Suzanne and Amanda for all of their hard work organzing, fascilitating, and making possible the Secret Recipe Club.
For information about joining, click on the icon..

I've also just started visiting a delightful blog that you might enjoy..

 I just recently discovered a wonderful website that has a soup and salad linkys on Sundays. I'm going to submit this salad recipe, so pop over  and check out all the great soup and salad recipes.
SouperSundays
I love to hear from you. Please leave a comment so I know you stopped by. Scroll down to the end of the post and click on comments.

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20 comments:

  1. I love making sprouts - and they add a great crunch to a salad as well as being really healthy and filled with protein.

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  2. Wow, Judee: a four-day-long recipe - that's dedication!

    The salad looks great - like it was worth the work.

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  3. Hi Judee,
    Welcome to Group B, it is great to see you here. Of course I love this recipe, it is worth the wait! It will be fun cooking with you in the SRC.
    Miz Helen

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  4. Lovely salad, my favourite.., Sprouting is fabulous.., I do it all the time.., I use it in lots of my recipes.., Lovely one for SRC, Glad to meet you too...

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  5. This is so pretty! I love pretty food! Healthy too, :-)

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  6. I love mung bean sprouts and the addition of them in a salad is so tasty.

    If you haven't already, I'd love for you to check out my Group 'A' SRC entry: Crunchy Fudgy Heart Bites

    Lisa~~
    Cook Lisa Cook

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  7. What a great looking salad! I love all the colors and summer feeling it exudes.

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  8. I have been wanting to try sprouting, now I have a recipe to start with. Looks great!

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  9. What a nice healthy salad. I've sprouted mung beans, but into full sprouts, not like these. What a great idea. nice pick for SRC!

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  10. Thanks for reminding me I was going to try making sprouts. This looks good.

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  11. I'm a huge fan of salads, and this one looks especially delicious!

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  12. Hi Judee, I'm so glad you enjoyed the salad. Nice to meet you through SRC. I can't wait to check the rest of your blog!

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  13. This is so interesting to me! I'm always looking for new ways to add more "healthy stuff" into my food! I'm stopping by from SRC but I'd love if you check our my new site seasonalpotluck.com February is oranges month so if you have any orange recipes, we'd love if you'd link up! http://bit.ly/zDoNfx

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  14. Trisha,
    Nice to meet you too. I enjoyed being introduced to your blog through SRC. You have a great blog and I'll be back to try other recipes

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  15. That looks gorgeous! Vibrant colors and flavors - nutrition that tastes good ... :)

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  16. Thanks for the great post about Sprouting. Ill keep coming back to get more tips and insights since there is so much good stuff here.

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  17. Your time well spent germinating your own sprouts! The salad looks divine with the addition. So colorful and healthy!

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  18. I need to start sprouting. ;-) This salad look delicious and healthy too. Thanks for sending it to Souper Sundays. ;-)

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  19. Delicious and healthy salad. I love sprouts but never did my own so basically I am limited to what I can find, which are the usual bean, broccoli and alfalfa. Mung beans look nice.

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