Mung Beans, Lentils, Peas & Seeds; How To Sprout At Home
Ankur Wale Dane (Moong, Kala Chana, Safed or Kabuli Chana, Rai and Methi Dana etc.)
Contributors; Reeta Kumar, Abha Gupta, Angelica Jones, Shana Khan
Sprouted seeds of various sorts can be used in salads and many stir-fries. They can also be used as part of a sandwich filling. They are a good source of vitamins, minerals and trace elements. You can sprout a mixture of 2-3 seeds, but try to select seeds with similar germination time. They are a lot easier to do than may appear at first glance of the method.
My favourites are; Moth Beans, Mung Beans, Chickpeas (both white and brown/Bengal gram), mustard seeds, methi seeds, wheat and cress.
To avoid infections, make sure that you wash your sprouter/cloth with washing up liquid and hot water after each use.
Edited June 2022
Ingredients
1/3 - 1/2 cup of any one of the following seeds:
Aduki or Adzuki Beans
Alfalfa; said to be rich in potassium, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, chlorine, vitamins
Amaranth (Chowlaai)
Barley
Beetroot
Bengal gram or black chickpeas (Kala Chana)
Broccoli
Buckwheat or Kotu seeds (soak overnight and germinate as usual)
Cabbage seeds
Chickpeas (Safed or Kabuli Chana)
Cress
Dill
Fenugreek (Methi)
Flaxseed/Linseed
Lentils: Many lentils and beans are also suitable for sprouting, like Puy or brown/green lentils, (excluding beans like Rajma/Kidney beans which should not be eaten raw. They can be toxic in their raw or half cooked state)
Lettuce
Moong (Mung Beans)
Moth Beans or Matki Beans. One of the easiest to sprout.
Mustard (Rai), black or yellow
Peas (Dry Green Peas)
Pumpkin (Kaddu) Seeds, hulled - soaked for an hour or so, not sprouted
Quinoa Seeds
Radish (Mooli)
Rocket
Sesame (Til)
Snow Peas
Spelt
Soya beans
Sunflower seeds, hulled - soaked for an hour or so, not sprouted*
Wheat grain
Wheat grass, grown in small pots on a piece of moist cotton/tissue
Instructions
Put seeds/beans/chickpeas (both black gram and white ones) into a bowl and wash well.
Soak for 8-12 hours/overnight. If there are any hard seeds, they will sink to the bottom of the bowl when filled with water. Remove them by lifting off the good seeds off the top. These hard seeds at the bottom will not sprout and remain hard, ruining the seed salads.
Drain off the water and transfer the seeds into your sprouter.
If you do not have a sprouter, simply wrap them in a bowl, covered with a moist cloth napkin and leave in a bowl. See last picture. Leave them at room temperature. In winter, they may take a bit longer, unless kept in a warm place.
Wash and drain the seeds each morning and put them back in the sprouter. This will reduce chances of the new sprouts drying up.
They will take 2-3 days to sprout fully, depending upon the temperature of your kitchen. Around 70C is good. You may leave them longer, if you want longer sprouts.
Each day, put the germinating seeds in a colander, wash then. Then place them back in the germinate or wrap them back in moist napkin.
When they have germinated enough to your requirement, wash and drain. Keep in an airtight container in the fridge.
*Seeds with hard shells, like sunflower/melon seeds, need soaking overnight and then washing 3-4 times a day, to remove the shells/hard skins that float to the top.
Notes
See Sprouted Moong Dal Salad and Sprouted Fenugreek Seed and Red Onion Salad.
Be careful that your seeds are of good quality and you do not leave sprouted seeds under moist conditions for too long.
Use seeds from food stores. Garden centre seeds may have insecticides on them
