Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Indian Sprouted Lentil Salad

I'm on my own tonight as the Monster has a bidness dinner out. As soon as I learned he'd be gone I started brewing up a jar of lentil sprouts in anticipation of eating solo. Sprouting requires very little work and you end up with a more nutritious and easily digestible legume for your small effort.

To start, you'll need to rinse 6-8 Tbs of lentils and soak them overnight on the counter in a bowl of filtered water.
The next morning, carefully drain and rinse the soaked lentils. Transfer them to a clean jar (I use a recycled glass quart sized yogurt jar), cover the opening of the jar with cheesecloth and secure it with a rubber band. Now put the jar in a dark cabinet propped at a 45 degree angle, mouth of the jar pointing downward. I like to place a tea towel under the jar to absorb any moisture and keep the jar from slipping. You'll need to carefully rinse and drain the lentils twice daily until their sprouts are about 1/2" long. I think I started this on Monday night and it's now Wednesday...so give yourself a couple days. Once the sprouts are long enough, transfer the jar to the refrigerator and eat them whenever you feel like a nosh. Best eaten within the next few days though.

I didn't use the whole amount of sprouts in my salad since it's just li'l ol' me, so hopefully I'll have enough for a sprouted lentil dal tomorrow.

Indian Sprouted Lentil Salad:
(found on Recipezaar)

1 1/2 cups sprouted lentils
1/2 cup seeded and chopped cucumber
1/2 cup diced seeded tomato
1/3 cup thinly sliced green onion
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro (durn...no viable cilantro tonight so had to sub parsley)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano (I only used a little more than 1/2 tsp of Greek oreg.)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 cup small quartered red radish (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Carefully rinse the sprouted lentils in a colander.
Add the chopped vegetables to a bowl and lightly toss them with the sprouted lentils.
In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients.
Drizzle the dressing over the vegetable mixture and toss gently again.
Allow the flavors to blend for 20 to 30 minutes before serving.

2 comments:

Sara said...

this was a big hit today! I made it for my friend Andrea whose father in law grows lentils in Canada. She's itching to try it herself!

Erndog said...

Very cool, Sara. Hope you guys are well!