A colorful, nutritious sprouted mung bean salad with a lot of textures and flavors going on! This mung sprouts salad with an oil-free dressing can be served as a quick and filling lunch or a healthy side salad for dinner.
Rinse and soak ½ cup of dried mung beans in water for about 6 hours.
Drain the water. Use a wet kitchen cloth to cover the bowl and secure with a rubber band. Leave it on the kitchen top overnight or at least for 9 hours.
Remove the cloth and you’ll see that the beans have sprouted.
How to cook mung beans
Toss mung beans with 1 teaspoon of water, ¼ teaspoon each of salt and pepper in a bowl. Steam them for 5 to 10 minutes in a steamer.
If you don’t have a steamer, place the bowl of mung beans in a deep pot with 2 cups of boiling water. Close and steam for 5 to 10 minutes.
Add Salad Mix-ins
Finely dice an onion and a cucumber. Halve one large tomato and remove the seeds and pulp. Finely dice the tomato.Grate a carrot (½ cup) and zest ½ a lemon. Roughly chop coriander leaves (¼ cup).
Mix everything together with cooked mung beans. Add other mix-ins like raisins and nuts, if using.
Make salad dressing and toss
Whisk together 3 tablespoons of lemon juice, 2 teaspoons honey, ½ teaspoon each of chili flakes, cumin and pink salt.
Drizzle the dressing over the mung beans and vegetables. Toss everything together and garnish with 2 tablespoons of coconut strips.
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Notes
Mung beans: If you don’t have the time for sprouting, buy sprouted ones if you can. Or else, soak the dried beans for an hour and steam as per the recipe.
Sprouting mung beans: If the weather is not warm enough, they may take longer to sprout. If you find that they haven’t sprouted overnight, rinse the beans, wet the cloth, and cover again. Leave them for another 4 to 5 hours until you see small sprouts.
Coconut: Use fresh strips of coconut meat. If not available, dried coconut flakes or strips work too.
Vegetables: I’ve used carrots, cucumber, onion, and tomato. You can use other salad vegetables like bell pepper, celery, and lettuce.
Other mix-ins: You can use toasted almonds, cashews or any other nuts and dried fruits like dates or raisins.
Herbs: Coriander leaves, mint leaves, spring onions, or a combination of these. Use only fresh ones. Do not settle for dried herbs for this salad.
Spices: I use chili flakes and pink salt for flavor. You can use black pepper/ cayenne pepper and regular salt.
Scaling: Sprout a big batch of mung beans and store them in the refrigerator (4 days) or freezer (6 months) to save time and effort.
I prefer Japanese cucumbers since they are crunchier and don’t make the salad soggy.
Spices: Add ½ teaspoon of chaat masala in addition to the spices in the dressing.
Variation: Drizzle green chutney or avocado chutney to make this mung bean salad a healthier, low-calorie alternative to moong chaat.
Storing: This mung bean salad is best served fresh. It keeps well for about 4 days in the refrigerator. Store the dressing in a separate container.
Leftovers: Leftover salad will be good for a couple of days in the refrigerator.