Sprout Salad is a healthy salad with moong bean sprouts and vegetables. I am sharing tips on how to make sprouts from scratch, along with an Indian-style sprout salad recipe. Be sure to watch the video!
What are Sprouts?
Sprouts are the newly germinated seeds or the tender roots of a legume grown following the sprouting process. The sprouting process turns lentils and legumes into living plants with more Vitamin C, B, and carotene. It also helps in the absorption of minerals.
Mung Bean Sprouts are the most common culinary sprouts used in Indian Cuisine. They are used to make a variety of Indian curries, salads, snacks, and other dishes.
You can add mung bean sprouts to buddha bowls, poke bowls, hearty soups, stir-fry noodles, or wholesome salads.
How To Make Mung Bean Sprouts
Sprouting at home may sound like a complex technique, which requires a lot of precision, but you’ll find it fun and extremely easy once you try it.
It’s so much joy seeing your little sprouts come to life and the longer sprouts grow, I feel more proud.
To make sprouts at home:
Wash Lentil: Clean, rinse and soak the mung beans (green moong dal) in filtered water for at least 6 hours. I usually prefer soaking them overnight (ref images 1 & 2). As you notice in images 3 & 4, the size of the beans increases after absorbing water.
Start Sprouting Process: Transfer the soaked lentil to a colander the following day. Let them sit for 15 minutes. This way, all the water is drained out of the legume.
Take a clean and dry muslin/cheesecloth or any breathable piece of cloth. Spread the drained mung beans in the muslin cloth, bring the corners together and tie them into a loose knot ( ref image 4 ) .
Start Sprouting Process: You can keep the cloth with sprouts in a bowl with a lid (ref image 5). Keep the bowl in a dry and dark place, such as an oven or microwave, undisturbed for 24 hours.
Each legume takes a different amount of time to sprout. For example, Mung Beans take 2 days, whereas chickpeas 3 – 4 days. During the summer season, mung bean sprouts are ready in 24 hours.
Every morning check the legumes for sprouting. If the legumes seem dry, spray them with freshwater to maintain the moisture content. Do not touch the sprouts with dirty hands or a spoon. Instead, use only clean, filtered water to wash or spray the sprouts.
Alternatively, instead of using a muslin cloth, you can directly put sprouts in a container with a tight-fitting lid.
How To Store
You can store mung bean sprouts for 3 days in the refrigerator. However, I do not recommend keeping them longer as they have a short shelf life, and spoiled sprouts can easily cause severe stomach infections.
How – Line a fridge container with a clean kitchen cloth, preferably cheese or muslin cloth. Arrange the sprouts over the cloth. Close the lid of the container. The kitchen towel will help absorb the excess moisture and increase the shelf life of the sprouts.
Moong Bean Sprout Salad
It is an easy Indian-style, gluten-free, vegan salad that only requires a few pantry staples.
Soak Sprouts: Add sprouts to a bowl. Pour hot water over the sprouts. Cover the bowl with a lid. Let sprouts sit in hot water for 5 minutes. Transfer to a colander. Allow to cool down. Mung Bean Sprouts have a slightly bitter taste.
The hot water soaking process helps in reducing the bitterness of the sprouts and also makes them easy to digest.
Vegetables: From fresh tomato and cucumber to green lettuce, carrot, you can add vegetables to the sprout salad. Add pomegranate, parsley, cilantro, or any other fresh herb to make it more colourful.
Seasoning: This is an Indian-style sprout salad with the seasoning of salt, red chilli powder, lemon juice, olive oil, and cumin powder. Feel free to experiment with other seasoning flavours, such as oregano, fresh herbs, or spices.
Watch Sprout Salad Video
Whole green mung bean sprouts, brown chickpeas sprouts, white channa/chickpeas sprouts, mustard seeds sprouts, alfa alfa sprouts, and horse gram sprouts are the most commonly used lentils and legumes for making a salad. You can mix 2 – 3 varieties of sprouts in a single salad.
Usually, it is best to consume them for breakfast, brunch, or evening snacks so that the body gets enough time to digest them and absorb the nutrients before sleeping.
How to consume sprouts is a debatable issue. Some say it should be consumed raw, while others challenge the idea by saying raw sprouts encourage bacteria to grow, so it’s best if sprouts are cooked. You can prefer either way to consume sprouts. You can blanch, steam, or soak them in hot water before adding to a salad or soup.
More Salad Recipes
Smashed Cucumber Salad
Brown Chana Salad
Lobia Chaat Salad
Fresh Fruits Salad
Mixed Beans Salad
Kosambari Salad
Chickpea Salad
Lentil Salad
If you try this recipe and love it, please leave a comment and a rating. This helps us grow and reach other food lovers like you.
Ingredients
- ▢ 1 ½ Cup moong bean sprouts (moong dal sprouts)
- ▢ 2 Cup water, hot
- ▢ ¼ Cup onion, finely chopped
- ▢ ¼ Cup tomato (discard pulp and seeds), finely chopped
- ▢ ¼ Cup cucumber, finely chopped
- ▢ ¼ Cup carrot, shredded
- ▢ ¼ Cup parsley or cilantro, chopped
- ▢ ¼ Cup pomegranate
- ▢ 2 tablespoon roasted peanuts
For Salad Dressing
- ▢ ¼ Cup extra virgin olive oil
- ▢ 1 teaspoon roasted cumin powder (jeera powder)
- ▢ 1 teaspoon Himalayan Pink Salt
- ▢ 1 teaspoon red chili powder
- ▢ 1 ½ tablespoon lemon or lime juice
Instructions
Blanch Sprouts
- Add sprouts to a bowl. Pour hot water over the sprouts. Cover the bowl with a lid. Let sprouts sit in hot water for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, transfer them to a colander. Allow to cool down completely before using for the salad.
Prepare Salad
- Combine sprouts, onion, tomato, cucumber, parsley, and carrot in a mixing bowl. Mix nicely.
- For the dressing, mix olive oil, cumin powder, salt, red chili powder, and lemon juice. Stir to combine. The salad dressing is ready!
- Pour dressing over the salad and mix gently.
- Add pomegranate, roasted peanuts, and fresh parsley. Toss the salad once again.
- Serve healthy sprout salad as a snack or a fulfilling meal.
Recipe Notes:
- If you are using store-bought sprouts for the salad, make sure to check the expiry date on the box.
- Mung Bean Sprouts have a slightly bitter taste. The hot water soaking process helps in reducing the bitterness of the sprouts and also makes them easy to digest.
- I prefer blanching the sprouts before adding them to the salad. You can add raw sprouts as well in the salad.
- It is best to consume the sprout salad immediately. Do not leave it at room temperature for more than 1 – 2 hours after adding seasoning. Or store it in the refrigerator.
Nutrition
We follow a strict NO SPAM Policy
Healthy Sprout Salad Recipe
Equipment
- Salad Mixing Bowl
- Saucepan
Ingredients
- 1 ½ Cup moong bean sprouts (moong dal sprouts)
- 2 Cup water, hot
- ¼ Cup onion, finely chopped
- ¼ Cup tomato (discard pulp and seeds), finely chopped
- ¼ Cup cucumber, finely chopped
- ¼ Cup carrot, shredded
- ¼ Cup parsley or cilantro, chopped
- ¼ Cup pomegranate
- 2 tablespoon roasted peanuts
For Salad Dressing
- ¼ Cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon roasted cumin powder (jeera powder)
- 1 teaspoon Himalayan Pink Salt
- 1 teaspoon red chili powder
- 1 ½ tablespoon lemon or lime juice
Instructions
Blanch Sprouts
- Add sprouts to a bowl. Pour hot water over the sprouts. Cover the bowl with a lid. Let sprouts sit in hot water for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, transfer them to a colander. Allow to cool down completely before using for the salad.
Prepare Salad
- Combine sprouts, onion, tomato, cucumber, parsley, and carrot in a mixing bowl. Mix nicely.
- For the dressing, mix olive oil, cumin powder, salt, red chili powder, and lemon juice. Stir to combine. The salad dressing is ready!
- Pour dressing over the salad and mix gently.
- Add pomegranate, roasted peanuts, and fresh parsley. Toss the salad once again.
- Serve healthy sprout salad as a snack or a fulfilling meal.
Video
Notes
- If you are using store-bought sprouts for the salad, make sure to check the expiry date on the box.
- Mung Bean Sprouts have a slightly bitter taste. The hot water soaking process helps in reducing the bitterness of the sprouts and also makes them easy to digest.
- I prefer blanching the sprouts before adding them to the salad. You can add raw sprouts as well in the salad.
- It is best to consume the sprout salad immediately. Do not leave it at room temperature for more than 1 - 2 hours after adding seasoning. Or store it in the refrigerator.
Nutrition
My easy meal prep ideas make planning everyday Indian meals easier. These planning and prep work tips will help you eat home-cooked meals daily, save money, and reduce stress throughout the week.
How To Plan Everyday Indian Meal
If you have ever drooled over the elaborate Indian thali meals on my Instagram feed , then I must share a secret. Meal Prep is the key to eating a delicious home-cooked meal every day.
Following easy meal prep ideas, you can make various Indian food recipes throughout the week despite being busy.
- Think and plan the menu for the week (follow my 30 Everyday meal calendar )
- Write down meal prep notes for each meal
- Prepare your grocery shopping list
- Finish your grocery shopping over the weekend
At first, you might feel like it’s a lot to do, but once you get going and see how effortless it is, you don’t have to worry about dinner/lunchbox/breakfast throughout the week.
How To Start Meal Prep
Take Baby Steps: Start with one meal that pains you the most. It could be either breakfast , dinner or packing a lunchbox (check out lunchbox ideas for adults ). Later, slowly move to plan all the meals of the week.
Set Reminder: During the first week of meal prep, you must set a few reminders to get it into your routine. Like, if you are starting with breakfast, set a reminder for Sunday night to do prep work for the weekly breakfast.
Handpick Recipes: First, pick Indian food recipes that are easy to follow and execute on weekdays. Over a period, you can select more elaborate recipes and plan their execution like an expert.
My favourite meal prep tools, I hope you also find them useful:
Glass Box Set : They are fantastic for storing anything from boiled lentils, salad, and chopped vegetables to fruits. Mason Jars: They are perfect for storing salads, fruits, overnight oats or anything you want to grab and go.
Free Weekly Meal Plan: Download a free printable weekly planner.
Ziplock Bags : They are the lifesaver when storing chopped onion, garlic, and fruits for smoothies or green vegetables.
30 Everyday Indian Meal Ideas: Use these meal ideas to plan a weekly menu for breakfast/lunch/dinner.
Meal Prep Ideas for Indian kitchen
- Freezer-Friendly Indian Curry Paste: Making an excellent Indian curry after a long working day is a sort of challenge. It requires hours of labour if you start from scratch. Hence, with meal prep-friendly DIY Indian curry pastes in the fridge, you can make your favourite Indian curry in 30 minutes.
You can make them over the weekend, and they remain fresh for up to a week. These curry pastes are one of my favourite easy meal prep ideas for an Indian kitchen.
You can get my debut cookbook for The 100 Best Indian Curry Recipes to use these curry pastes in a hundred creative ways.
- Cutting & Preparing Ingredients: For making any Indian meal, we require a lot of chopped onion, tomato, vegetables, and greens.
- Chop a small batch of onion, ginger, and tomato. Store them in the refrigerator.
- Peel and chop vegetables like bottle gourd, pumpkin, carrot, cauliflower required for the first few days of the week.
- Clean green leafy vegetables like fenugreek, spinach, kale, lettuce, mint, and coriander. Store them in ziplock bags.
- Cut and freeze fresh fruits like mangoes, bananas, strawberries, kiwi for smoothies or milkshakes .
These small meal prep steps expedite the cooking process during the weekdays. You can use a food processor or a handy chopper for the purpose.
- Cook & Store: A few cooked ingredients and side dishes can help you sail through the week.
- Boil a big batch of potatoes. Keep them handy to make Indian breakfast , curry, sandwiches, and snacks.
- Boil and store lentils and legumes like chickpeas (chana), red kidney beans, and brown chickpeas (kala chana) for making salads and Indian main course dishes .
- You can always cook and store side dishes like matar pulao , jeera rice , or plain rice to serve with dal and gravy dishes.
- Make a little extra serving of dishes like dal fry or Rajasthani Kadhi to reheat and eat during busy weekdays.
- Make spinach puree and store it in the refrigerator. Use it for making poori , paratha, or spinach egg curry .
- Marinate proteins like paneer , tofu, chicken , cauliflower , and prawns to make quick stir fry or tikka during the week.
- And, of course, you can always boil and store noodles, pasta, couscous, quinoa, or brown rice to make a variety of multi-cuisine dishes .
- Prepare whole wheat dough for chapati or paratha and store it.
- Similarly, you can make dosa batter, dal chilla or besan chilla batter and store them for a week in the refrigerator.
- Takeaway Salad Jars: On Sunday night, layer up all the salad ingredients in a mason jar, pack the dressing separately and keep them in the fridge. Each morning pick a salad jar and rush to the office or eat them for lunch.
This way, you can save a lot of time cooking an office lunchbox and eat healthy homemade lunch even on a busy day. Not only salads, but you can also pack smoothies, milkshakes, overnight oats , wholesome soups or just anything in a jar and keep them handy for a takeaway.
- Ready To Use Indian Condiments: We use a lot of herbs, spices, and chutney in an Indian kitchen. To save time,
- Keep a container full of peeled garlic, ginger, and washed green chilli in the fridge.
- Clean, wash and pat dry fresh coriander leaves. You can use a salad spinner to drain all the water from the coriander. Store in a ziplock bag or an airtight container lined with a paper towel. While cooking, you can chop and add it in an instant.
- Prepare and store a few condiments like green chutney , coconut chutney , tomato chutney , pickled onions ( sirkey wala pyaaz ) to serve with snacks and breakfast. Or make multi-purpose dips like hummus , salsa , and store them.
- Make a big batch of multi-purpose ginger-garlic paste and store it.
- Homemade condiments like garam masala or chai masala add a lot of flavour to the dishes and save money.
These easy meal prep ideas save a lot of time in the kitchen and help me cook wholesome, nourishing meals in no time.
- Recycle Leftovers: There are zillion creative ways to use leftovers; they are the best way to check on food wastage and reduce your grocery bill.
- Leftover plain rice can be easily transformed into a delicious bowl of fried rice , coconut rice , or lemon rice .
- If you have roasted or grilled chicken in the fridge, use it to make sandwiches, salads , or biryani .
- Use leftover idli from breakfast to make chilli idli fry or idli manchurian .
- Similarly, leftover paneer tikka can make a colourful tawa paneer pulao .
- Use all those leftover vegetables in the refrigerator to make vegetable sto ck.
- Use leftover yellow dal to make Punjabi dal paratha or missa paratha .
Use Meal Prep Resources
How To Organize Indian Kitchen Cabinet
30 Everyday Indian Meal Calendar
20+ Indian Chinese Fusion Recipes
25+ Indian Breakfast Recipes
25+ Office Lunchbox Ideas
20 Indian Thali Ideas
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