Sprouts are wonder food due to its high nutritional value. Natural sprouts are good for a healthy body and mind development. It ensures blood purification and strengthens the immune system.

In Naturopathy, sprouts start at the very top of the nutrition label. They improve digestion and absorption of food and decrease inflammation in the body. Sprouts and sprouted foods are a wonderful way to work towards all of these goals. This is both because of how foods are transformed during sprouting as well as the health benefits of the sprouts themselves. Also naturopathy says that the less you cook or overcook the larger the benefits. Sprouts are termed as medicine because they preserve and promote health.

Seeds of Alfalfa, Sunflower, Soyabean, Gram, Soybean, Wheat, Moth, Moong, Lobia, Methi, etc. can be used for sprouts. Split peas, Kidney beans, Black beans, Pinto beans and Garbanzo beans are also used as sprouted seeds.

Sprouted dals in coconut paste

1 teaspoon peanut oil

Heat peanut oil in a wide skillet. Add mustard seeds and asafetida.When seeds start to pop, add the sprouted peas, curry leaves and reduce the heat to low.Sprinkle handful of water, cover and steam-cook the peas to tender.Add the chopped methi. Mix in turmeric, coconut-chilli-cumin ground paste. Mix and cook. Season with salt and serve hot.

Moong Sprouts salad

Ingredients

Sprouts - 1 cup

Method

Mix the carrots, tomato, green chili, sprouts, chopped mint and cilantro. Add few drops of lemon juice to it with little salt. Mix everything and serve as a healthy snack .For a sweeter version, skip the green chili and add a tbsp. of honey instead.

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 The Sprouting Process:

Wash any lentils, seeds in water to remove any dirt and then soak them in a vessel with water overnight. Next day, drain the water, rinse them and transfer the moist seeds onto an air-tight container. Place it in a cool spot in your kitchen for a day. Moisten if it dries up.

Once the seeds have sprouted, you can store them in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for upto a week. Use the sprouted seeds as and when needed, in your dishes.

This is a generic process for sprouting any kind of pulses or lentils. Depending on the toughness of the skin on the lentils, the sprouting process may take anywhere between 2-4 days.

Fenugreek salad

In a salad bowl, add the sprouted Fenugreek seeds, finely chopped onions, tomatoes and green chilies and mix them with a spoon. Guacamole is an option too

Then add salt and pepper and sprinkle the chopped cilantro and mint leaves to the salad.

Pour the lemon juice on top (Fenugreek seeds naturally have a bitter taste and the lemon juice helps reduce the bitterness and also gives the entire salad a zest!) and give the salad a quick toss and the healthy fresh salad is ready !

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