Sprouted Garbonzo Bean Salad

I love sprouting. I am so happy that I purchased my sprouter. Mine is a 3 tray system that drains itself and leaves a perfect amount of water in each tray. My advice to you: invest in one and, more importantly, use it. The greatest thing about sprouting beans is that they are no longer a legume when they come alive, they are a vegetable packed full of great nutrients. Today I decided to make a vegan salad using the sprouted garbanzo beans (chick peas) [possibly as an apology to my herbivore friends about my last recipe....]. If you need directions on how to sprout garbanzo beans, check out The Daily Raw Cafe. She shows you how to sprout if you don't want to invest in a sprouter but have a few mason jars kicking around (all you need is a special strainer lid which is available at health food stores). Anyway, here goes the recipe. This is very delicious and nutritious food. Serves 3-4.

Ingredients

Dressing:

1/4 cup raw apple cider vinegar (Bragg's is good)

1/3 cup olive oil

1 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp ground pepper

1 tsp dried oregano

2 tbsp raw agave nectar


Salad:

4 cups sprouted garbanzo beans

1/2 orange or yellow bell pepper

1/2 red onion

1 tbsp chopped fresh mint

1 tbsp chopped fresh basil


Directions:

1) When the garbanzo beans are sprouted with a small tail no larger than in the picture at the top, rinse them thoroughly, steam for 10-12 minutes, rinse under cold water and put in bowl.

2) Dice the red onion and bell pepper. Finely chop the mint and basil. Add to beans.

3) Mix all dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk until creamy. Pour over top of salad and toss.

4) Enjoy!!


So, there you have it. A delicious vegan recipe. At one point, this recipe was raw but, unfortunately, I got food poisoning from the raw garbanzo beans. Sprouting beans can be finicky and if you aren't careful and don't rinse them thoroughly enough, they can be toxic. I fell victim to this. To avoid going through the same thing I did, boil or steam the sprouts for safety. Have fun with this recipe. I hope you like it.


Cheers!




 

Bean Salad w/ Apple Cider Vinaigrette

Bean Salad w/ Apple Cider Vinaigrette

Well, it's time to end my food-blog hiatus. School has ended and summer is coming. Before you say it, I will... Barbecues!!! Tasty, tasty barbecues. Before I post my special barbecue recipes, I'm going to start with this salad recipe. Bean salads, at least in my family, are a staple at barbecues. Since I had all the ingredients handy and a fresh batch of daikon sprouts, I thought I should make something tasty with them. If you have a sprouter, try and find daikon seeds and grow them yourself. If you don't have a sprouter, buy one..... or buy a pack of broccoli sprouts. Okay, to the recipe. There are two ways to make this salad, the lazy way and the foodie way. I'm going to tell you the foodie way but if you want to do it the lazy way, feel free to use canned mushy beans. Serves 4-6.

Ingredients:

Dressing:

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup olive oil

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 tsp dried oregano

1-2 tbsp raw sugar


Salad:

1/2 cup dried garbanzo beans (or 1 can)

1/2 cup dried romano beans (or 1 can)

1/2 cup dried kidney beans (or 1 can)

1/2 small red onion

1/2 large yellow or orange bell pepper

1 tbsp fresh mint

1 tbsp fresh basil

2-3 green onions

1 1/2 cups daikon sprouts (or 1 pack broccoli sprouts)


Directions:

1) For the lazy way: open the cans of beans, rinse any sauce off in a colander and put in a salad bowl.

2) For the foodie way: soak all dried beans separately for 6-8 hours maximum (make sure you cover with at least 1 1/2 cups of water to accommodate expansion).

3) Drain and rinse the beans in a colander. Put beans in separate heavy bottom pots (you could probably mix the beans together; however, they may cook at different rates) and heat until boiling.

4) Simmer beans on medium heat for 1 to 1-1/2 hours. Keep testing them periodically after 45 minutes of boiling until they are at the consistency you want. [This may seem complicated and arduous but it's the best way. It's so much better when "mushiness" is not a description for your salad].

5) After boiling, rinse beans with cold water and put into the bowl.

6) Dice the red onion, bell pepper and green onions. Finely chop the fresh herbs. Put all veggies, herbs and sprouts into the salad bowl.

7) Whisk all the dressing ingredients together until creamy. Pour over the salad and toss well.

8) Enjoy.



So, there you have it. My food blog hiatus is over and you have a new tasty recipe you can try. I really hope you try this salad. This recipe is definitely a keeper for me. If you don't like beans, try the dressing on other salads, I'm sure it would be the same awesomeness that it was on this salad. Don't forget, comments and questions about my recipes are gladly accepted on this blog.


Cheers