I hope you all had a great Easter weekend…we had a wonderful family time at my mom’s home, where we did a lot of egg coloring and shared precious time together. Not to mention that there was a lot of food…
This week, I am so excited to share something that I learned from Norma at Garden to Wok…sprouting beans. So far I had sprouted chickpeas and lentils…and both of them turned out great. I made a stew with the chickpea sprouts using tomato and eggplant and with the lentil sprouts, I made a soup.
I enjoyed watching the chickpeas and lentils sprout…it is so much fun seeing them first turning big and plump, then the little sprouts were coming out and getting longer and longer by the day, and finally, from the pot to the table.
Briefly, wash the chickpeas or lentils and soak in water overnight. Remove them from the water and drain. Place them in a colander and cover with a wet paper towel. Place the colander in an airy area of the kitchen counter and rinse 3 times a day. Make sure to keep the paper towel moist. You will start to see the sprouts after 18 to 24 hours, depending on the room temperature. Since the weather hasn’t been too warm and I did not want other things to grow with the sprouts, I decided to cook them after 3 days.
For more detail in how to sprout lentils and chickpeas, please visit Norma’s site at Garden to Wok. You will be amazed at what Norma shares.
This is a very simple recipe for a delicious and nutritious lentil sprouts soup. Now that I know how to sprout, I will definitely try and share more recipes in the future.
This is what I did with my first lentil sprouts…You can substitute the chicken broth with vegetable broth if you want to have a vegetarian dish.
Ingredients:
1/3 cup of dry lentils, sprouted
1 carrot cut in small pieces
1 small onion chopped
2-3 cups of chicken broth (water for vegetarian version)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon tarragon
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon marjoram
Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
Sauteé onion in the olive oil until slightly brown, then add the lentil sprouts, stir gently and add the carrots. Cook for a minute or two and add the chicken broth and the spices as well as salt and pepper. Lower the heat and cook until the lentil sprouts are soft. Serve hot.
I hope you enjoy this lentil sprouts soup. If you like soup, you might like the navy bean soup as well.
Did you know that unsprouted lentils lack 2 essential amino acids? Once the lentils are sprouted it contain all the 22 essential amino acids like the ones found in meat.
Now, what are essential amino acids? They are the ones that our body does not synthesize, therefore must be supplied in the diet.
