March, 2011 – Megan Miln

Growing bean sprouts: Lentils, chickpeas, and mung beans

Since growing mustard seed sprouts and discovering the world of sprouting, I have tried sprouting lentils, chickpeas, and mung beans.

The lentils and chickpeas are really easy to grow and take just a day and a half. I was surprised to find they don’t taste anything like cooked lentils or chickpeas. They taste more like fresh peas and are satisfyingly crunchy. I’ve been adding them to salads and stir-fries.

sprouting-lentils-and-chickpeas-in-jars

sprouted-and-dried-lentil

sprouted-and-dried-chickpea

The mung beans took about a week, and required a little more effort. Mung bean sprouts are the crunchy white bean shoots you can buy in bags at the supermarket. Mine did not get as big as the supermarket ones, but they were crunchy and tasty.

sprouted-mung-beans

I bought dried whole lentils and chickpeas from the supermarket, and found dried mung beans at the local Asian grocery store.

The instructions I used for sprouting are available at the links below: