Sprouted moong salad
Reviewed by Dr Namrata Bagaria, MBBS, MPH (Harvard)Last reviewed
This is about the cheapest protein there is, and one of the easiest. Whole green moong sprouts in two days on a kitchen counter with no equipment, and a bowl of it carries as much protein as an egg and a half, with fibre the egg does not have.
Sprouting is not only tradition. It increases certain vitamins and makes the dal considerably easier to digest, which matters if pulses have tended to trouble you.
Ingredients
To sprout
- 1 cup whole green moong
For the salad
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 1 tomato, chopped
- 1 small cucumber, chopped
- 1 green chilli, chopped, optional
- Juice of half a lemon
- 1/2 tsp roasted cumin powder
- Salt and black pepper
- Chopped coriander
- 1 tbsp grated coconut or roasted peanuts, optional
Method
- 1
Rinse the moong and soak it in plenty of water for eight hours or overnight.
- 2
Drain it completely, tie it loosely in a clean damp cloth or put it in a covered container with air holes, and leave it somewhere warm.
- 3
Rinse and drain once a day. Small white tails appear within a day or two. That is it; they are ready.
- 4
If raw sprouts do not suit you, steam them for four or five minutes, which keeps the crunch and makes them gentler.
- 5
Toss the sprouts with the onion, tomato, cucumber, chilli, lemon, cumin, salt and pepper. Scatter with coriander and the coconut or peanuts.
Good to know
- Steaming briefly is worth doing for anyone with a delicate stomach, and for anyone whose immunity is low, where raw sprouts are best avoided altogether.
- Peanuts or roasted chana on top push the protein higher still.
- This travels well in a box and keeps two days in the fridge, so it solves several lunches at once.
- Eat it before the rice rather than after, which blunts the rise in blood sugar from the meal.