The CC is a total sucker for sprouted lentils.
What you get in the supermarkets sucks but the process of sprouting lentils is shockingly easy.
Even in the dead of this frozen winter, the CC has had no problems getting them to sprout. The reason is that sprouting is an exothermic process which means that the sprouts themselves are giving up both heat and moisture.
You soak the sprouts overnight at first; then put them in a cheese cloth in a transparent bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Put in a warm spot that gets some indirect light. Each day you must wash them to make sure that they stay moist and remove any possible fungal buildup. They will sprout like champs in two days. Wed. night soaking for Sat. breakfast (Thu. for Sun.)
Easy peasy.
The following is a great breakfast dish as nutritious as it is simple.
Ingredients
3 cups sprouted lentils
pinch of asafetida
1 tbsp. dhanajeeru (coriander and cumin roasted and powdered)
1 tsp. red chili powder
oil
salt (to taste)
1 lime (cut into quarters)
Recipe
Fry some oil in a pan. Toss in the asafoetida and fry for a bit. Toss in the dhanajeeru and the red chilli powder and the sprouts. Sautée for 2-3 minutes.
Add water (about 1 1/2 cup.)
Let it simmer on low heat until the beans are edible. You may need to add more water.
It's done when the beans are cooked and the liquid is still a little watery but not soupy.
Serve at once squeezing the lime on top. The CC loves sopping up the broth with a crusty baguette.
Saturday, March 1, 2014
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4 comments:
Mmm. Sprouted lentils....
I recently experienced a half-life like phenomenon while trying to sprout some moong. I immersed about 1 cup them, and the next day when I looked at them, about half of them had soaked some water and looked ready to sprout, while the other half were hard and dark green and indistinguishable from how they looked before soaking. So I separated out the soaked half into a cheesecloth and changed the water on the other half, and left them soaking. Next day -- whaddyaknow? Again half of them soaked, other half still rock hard. Repeat until bored; five days later I threw away the spoonful of moong that were still hard. The rest made a wonderful "usal".
I've never had this problem.
Also, they don't need to sprout literally. They just need to absorb water. They will all sprout in the cheesecloth.
How old were the lentils?
I know they don't need to sprout literally. The amount of time it took for the moong to absorb water really did range from one to five days.
I don't know how long they had been sitting on the shelf in the store of course, but I had only just bought them the previous week.
So I am clearly misremembering. I do recall having this problem once.
What I did was dump all of them back overnight (sprouts and all) into some water and just put them in the cheesecloth again the next day.
Worked like a charm.
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