Moong Sprouts Salad is a beautiful medley of sprouted green gram, cucumbers, grated carrots, a simple seasoning of mustard seeds and garnish of lime juice
Table of Contents
Moong Sprouts Salad
Moong Sprouts salad is a crunchy and savoury salad made with spouts of moong dal or mung beans. They are easy to make and a great healthy side dish for any meal.
The sprouts are first slightly cooked, seasoned with mustard seeds and garnished with a variety of ingredients like grated carrots, cucumbers, pomegranates, roasted peanuts, coriander leaves, grated coconut and lime juice.
Moong sprouts also go by the name of sprouted mung beans, commonly in eastern Asia.
I make this salad once in two weeks as a side dish for a rice dish like Lemon Rice or tomato rice. You can make this sprout salad recipe with just a basic seasoning of salt, sugar, and lemon juice as well.
Ingredients for Moong Sprouts Salad
The main ingredient is green moong dal. I prefer to make sprouts at home and I quite enjoy watching it sprout. Read in the section below on how you can make sprouts at home.
If you are using ready-made sprouts, this salad will come together in 10 minutes.
Vegetables – Grated carrots, diced cucumber, finely sliced green chillies
Seasoning – Cooking oil, mustard seeds, split urad dal, salt and pepper.
Garnish – finely chopped coriander leaves, lemon juice, pomegranate
If you want to keep it simple, you only need the green moong dal and ingredients for seasoning.
Steps to make Green moong sprouts salad
The first step is to make the sprouts, unless you are using sprouts that are readily available in the market.
How to make sprouts at home?
To make sprouted moong dal, start off by washing and soaking one cup or 200 g of sprouts in a medium-sized bowl. Add enough water so that there is at least 2 inches of water above the soaked dals. They will expand so, there needs to be enough space. You can soak this overnight.
Next morning, drain the water and give the moong dal a rinse under running water. Let there be some moisture left over from the rinsing process.
Place these washed beans in a thin cloth like a muslin cloth or a handkerchief. Get the opposite ends of the cloth together and tie them up. Place this little bag of unsprouted beans in a box with the lid open. Let it sit for 24 hours in a somewhat dark and cool place. I usually place it in the oven.
I have a box that has holes in the bottom, sides and top that allows for ventilation. It is brilliant for the sprouting process. This dabba is from 2 decades ago when my mother was using it. There is a free flow of air, but closed enough to allow for sprouting.
There are several boxes available online these days to make the process of sprouting easy, or you can just buy the sprouts that are available in local markets.
After a day, you’ll see small sprouts at the end of the beans. You can use these, but I like it when the sprouts are slightly longer, so I take the box out, give the beans another rinse and put it back in for another day. You’ll see longer sprouts that are much healthier.
Before using the sprouts, give them a rinse under running water.
You can now eat them raw or slightly cook them before consumings. I prefer to cook the sprouts for a bit by blanching them or sauteing them in the seasoning.
Place a small pan on low-medium heat. Add a teaspoon of oil and allow it to warm up. Next, add mustard seeds and allow them to sputter. Now add the moong sprouts to the pan and saute for a minute. The sprouts will start to wilt. At that stage, turn off the heat and transfer it to a large bowl.
Now, if you have time to prep all the other ingredients, you can add them now.
Almost always, I add grated carrots, diced cucumbers, finely chopped coriander leaves, finely chopped green chillies and pomegranate pearls. Give all the ingredients a good mix.
[You can even finely chopped onions, tomatoes and diced raw mango to the salad]
Just before serving, add 1/2 tsp salt, lemon juice and grated coconut. Mix them all well and enjoy!
You can enjoy this delicious Moong Bean Sprout Salad as a side dish with Rasam rice or Curd rice.
Storage and Shelf Life
You should eat these sprouts salad fresh and finish them on the same day. If you can’t finish it, it’s best to eat them the next day after removing from the fridge.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I eat raw moong sprouts?
Yes, you can eat raw moong sprouts. Just give them a rinse before eating.
Is moong salad good for health?
Yes, 100%. All good things in moderation.
Recipe
Moong Sprouts Salad
Equipment
- 1 Muslin Cloth large
- 1 Box / Container
Ingredients
- 1 cup Green Moong Dal | Whole Moong Dal 200g
- 1 tsp Cooking oil (groundnut oil)
- 1 tsp Mustard seeds
Additional and Optional Ingredients
- 1 large Carrot grated
- 1 small Cucumber diced
- 2 tbsp Coriander Leaves finely chopped
- 2 tbsp Peanuts roasted
- 1 small Onion finely chopped
- 1 small Tomato finely chopped
- 1 Lemon juiced
- 2 tbsp Grated Coconut
- ½ tsp Salt adjust accordingly
Instructions
Sprouting the Moong Dal
- If you are sprouting the moong dal at home, this process takes 2 full days. But the active time spent on the sprouting it is less than 5 minutes.
- Wash and soak the green moong dal in 2-3 inches of water above the dal in a medium-sized container. You can do this overnight for about 7-8 hours.The next morning, drain out the water and rinse the soaked dal for a few times.
- Add these washed sprouts to a thin cloth, like a muslin cloth or a handkerchief. Knot the cloth by grabbing all four ends of the cloth. Keep this cloth with the rinsed moong dal in a steel box with the lid slightly open. I use a particular box that has small holes on top, sides and bottom and it does not even need the cloth. It's really convenient – see if you can get one of these boxes (see picture above).
- Keep this in a dark and cool place for a day. I usually keep it in my oven. You can find a similar place in your kitchen as well.
- Remove the box the next day and you will notice there are small sprouts already. At this stage, the sprouts are ready for use. I like longer sprouts, so what I do is to rinse out the sprouts once again and put it back in the cloth and box for one more day.
- It's best to cook or blanch them once before consuming them, but you can eat them raw too. Just give it a rinse before eating.
- Place a pan on medium heat and add a teaspoon of oil. Once the oil is warm, add mustard seeds and allow it to sputter. Add the moong sprouts and saute it in the heat for less than a minute. Turn off the heat.
- To a large bowl, add all the ingredients, including the cooked moong sprouts. Finally, garnish with grated coconut, finely chopped coriander leaves and a drizzle of lemon juice.