We have bags of beans! Black eye beans! Butter beans! Haricot beans! Lentils of different hues! Rosecoco beans! And now – moth beans!
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| This latest addition is like a spherical lentil and can probably be cooked in the same way. |
And all these beans are seeds!
Many of them can be planted in the garden. And many can be sprouted quite easily to produce a different nutritious and digestible food to be added to salads and stir fries.The supermarket bean sprout comes from mung beans, but we started with our moth beans and were very happy with the result.
Here is what we did:-
1. First soak the beans in cold water for 8-12 hours.
2. Rinse and then place in a bowl lined with damp paper towel.
3. Put away in a dark place – it does not need to be especially warm – we use the unheated oven. If we needed to use the oven we just took them out for a couple of hours.
After 24 hours or so a few sprouts will begin to develop. Rinse the beans in a sieve, and return to the bowl. Make sure the paper towel does not dry out.
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| After 24 hours the beans are beginning to sprout |
Depending on the type of bean and your preference this process can be continued for several days. If mold starts to develop rinse it off and increase the frequency of rinsing.
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| Rinse regularly to discourage mold and fermentation |
After 3 days I am impatient and want to add them to my cooking. For some, just 24 hours is enough. Others will wait 5 days or more before eating them.
During the germination process which leads to sprouting, changes take place in the constituents of the bean producing simpler and more digestible proteins and sugars. In parts of Asia it is common to start the day with a portion of bean sprouts eaten as a salad.
The 3 day old sprouts below show a variation in degree of development, but all are good for nibbling or adding to a stir fry.
Once sprouting is stopped, store in a refrigerator. Continue to rinse regular and use within a few days.
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| After 72 hours |
These joined our chilli and szechuan pepper spiced brocolli. And on the next day they garnished our duck and pak choi noodle soup. Mmmm!