How to sprout beans

Sprouts are a very nutritionally dense food, and they can be grown on the cheap.  They are full of vitamins, essential nutrients, protein, anti-oxidants, and are a great source of fiber.  I have sprouted beans twice now, and I am going for a third try.  There are a few ways to do it, so I have realized.  

First, I sprouted mung beans, a very popular sprout found in grocery stores.  I found some nice ladies on youtube who have a great video demonstrating how to do this.  It's pretty simple, and you have to tend to them daily.  First, the dry beans are soaked overnight.  In the morning, you rinse them, and place them in cheese cloth, tie it closed like a sack, and place them in a  container which does not let light in.  They said that you have to fool the beans into sprouting by putting them in a moist environment, in the dark, as if they were in the ground.  Come to find out, that is not necessary.  They just need to be out of direct sunlight.  Each day, you take them out, put them in a strainer, and rinse them.  Place them back in the cheesecloth, back in the dark pot.  I didn't have any cheesecloth, so I actually used a kitchen towel, and the sprouts began to sprout through the towel.  After the first day of this, I lined the towel with paper towel, and did not have a problem again.  I did it for three days, and then we ate them as a sprout salad.  I found a great recipe for a nice japanese style dressing.  I will list that at the bottom of my post.  I didn't take any pictures of my first sprouting.  

My second sprouting consisted of small red beans.  I made way too many of them.  It is a much bigger bean than the mung bean.  I soaked them overnight, and place them in my infamous kitchen towel.  By day three, I needed a larger towel, and a bigger pot.  I took some pictures of these guys.  They are kind of unruly.  

  And day three...

I rinsed and re-wrapped them up each day for 2 - 3 more days.  I lost track.  Finally, they were ready.  Removing the hulls was a bit of a challenge, as I came to find out that I was not doing this the easy way.  Here are the final sprouts.  They have big ol' beans on them.  

Once I got sight of my crazy sprouted red beans, I decided to check out sproutpeople.com for some advice on perhaps getting a real sprouter.  This method I had used was quite a bit of work.  They really have a plethora of information over there.  Although I can't afford to purchase a real sprouter at this time, they surely gave me some great lessons.  

Last night I took a couple of quart sized Chinese soup containers and crafted my own homemade sprouter.  I am sure that by slicing slits and drilling holes in plastic, I am probably causing some chemically garbage to leach into my fresh made sprouts.  We'll see how the next ones taste.  Lentils, here I come.   

The Sprout Salad Dressing Recipe:  Mix it all together.  Yum.

1 lb bean sprouts

2 tsp sesame seeds

2 tsp sesame oil (or whatever you have available)

4 tsp sugar

1/2 cup sider vinegar

1/2 tsp soy sauce

I also made a dressing of Hoisin sauce mixed with a few drops of Sriracha Hot Chili sauce.  

We took our leftovers from both salads, mixed them together for yet another delightful taste.