How to sprout beans

Sprouted beans are very popular in Maharashtra and are used to prepare a dish called "Usal" - a spicy sprouted beans curry. This curry has a great taste and it has health benefits as well - so why wouldn't anybody want to eat it? Raw sprouts can also be added to salads, soups and stir-fries. Here are a few benefits of sprouting:

• Sprouts have a higher nutrional value than unsprouted beans and even some of the other plant sources of food. They have high energy content required to transform the seed to plant. In addition, they are also a rich source of protein, vitamins and minerals.
• Sprouts are a easy and cheap source of highly nutritional food.
• Some of sprouts like mung/matki have beauty benefits - they can bring glow to your skin. So all the gals who are reading this, take a note :-)
• Sprouts are a live food, so all the nurtition in them are available to you straightaway, unlike other plant sources of food where most of nutritional value is lost by the time the vegetables/fruits have reached your home.

In Maharashtra, a variety of sprouted beans can be easily bought from local vegetable vendors. The grains that are frequently sprouted are Mung, Matki (Moth), Chana (Chick Peas). As the sprouted beans are not available at green-grocers here in UK, many of us who like eating sprouts are denied the pleasure. Although sprouting at home is a possibility, many people think it's time-consuming. However, sprouting is really simple - I have been sprouting at home here in UK. I always like things to be simple and if I can do it, so can you :-)
Let me explain to you the process for sprouting Matki beans at home (the procedure for sprouting Mung beans is ditto):

Day 1 Morning

The beans should be washed and soaked in water for a minimum of 6-8 hours. I always soak the beans in morning.

Day 1 Before bed-time

Discard the water from the beans and rinse the beans. Transfer them into a muslin cloth and gather the sides of the muslin and make a knot at the top to create a bundle. Place this bundle into a bowl and put the bowl away in a warm place - I always keep it in my airing cupboard. If you are living in a warm country, then you can keep the bundle anywhere.

Day 2 Noon

Open the bundle and check out the beans - they should have sprouted by now. I prefer smaller sprouts of about 5 mm - 1 cm in length. If they are too small, keep the bundle for a little longer.

This is how the sprouted beans will look like:

Storage

You can store the sprouted beans in a box in refrigerator for upto a week. It may turn rancid if kept for longer.

Hope all the information in this post has inspired you to start sprouting! I shall post recipes for Usal and other preparations using sprouts later on.