Bean Sprout Salad

OMG did my toddler love it or what ! I feel foolish for not having taken a picture of it. I didn't think she would like it and so I thought I would not be posting it on here. But wonder of wonders she had 3 helpings ! This is a great appetizer or even a snack and ofcourse, it is HEALTHY since it has all the good stuff - protein, whole grain, no oil no trans fat heck make that NO fat and if you take the raw route, you it doesn't even need you to turn on the stove !

I have a pretty decent sprout maker which makes enough for about 3 people. I use the green Mung dal (the one thats green in color) as shown here

Take about half a cup mung beans. Wash them thoroughly in a sieve. Make sure there are no stones or other stuff in it. If so, remove them. Now transfer the beans to a dish and add enough water to completely soak the beans. Then add about an inch more (since the beans will soak most of this water). Leave overnight or for about 6 hours. Once the seeds are plump drain the water and transfer to your sprout maker. If you don't have a sprout maker, you can follow this method to sprout the beans. It takes atleast 8 hours for the beans to sprout. You can leave them longer too but you will have to drain the water from the bottom of the sprouter and add fresh water (to stop the beans from getting smelly). The paper towel method too talks about how to rinse the beans and repeat the process if you want to leave them longer.

Now the salad ingredients remain the same but the sprouts can be served in two ways - as is (they will have a crunchy and 'raw' texture ) or steamed for about 15 minutes till they lose their 'raw' taste. I steamed mine for a few minutes since I personally think they're more gassy if eaten raw and my little person doesn't take to a gassy tummy well. So once you have them at the crispness you like, follow the instructions below

- 1/4th Onion finely chopped

- 1 tomato finely diced

- 1 small finely chopped green chilli

- 4-5 sprigs cilantro. Separate leaves from stem, discard stem and chop the leaves

- 1-2 tbsp lemon juice

- a pinch of table salt

- 1/4th tsp rock salt (you can skip this if you don't have it)

- 1/2 tsp Chaat masala (freshly ground is best and you can find how I make it here. You could also buy the ready made version from a store that sells Indian spices)

If the beans are steamed, wait until they're completely cooled. Then follow along. Add all of the above ingredients except lemon juice and cilantro. Mix well. Now add lemon juice. Mix again. Garnish with cilantro. This dish is best consumed immediately once the ingredients are all mixed in since the tomato and onion will make the leftovers soggy.

I promise to make this again (now that my little girl likes it) and post a picture soon !