Sprouted Lentil Salad

I love sprouting! I love sprouted lentils, and Liz does too, which is good, because that means I can make sprouted lentil salads for her to take for lunch.

The hardest part about making sprouted lentils is waiting for them to sprout, which is like 99.5% doing nothing, so it's pretty easy.



I sprout in a wide-mouth mason jar. The first thing you do is pick out any broken lentils, pieces of lentil skin, rocks, or other detritus from your lentils. Then you wash off your lentils and let them soak for a couple of hours.

After they are done soaking, you can either get a fancy sprouting lid or just gin one up with a canning ring and some cheesecloth. Drain the lentils out, then rinse and drain them a couple of times until the rinse water comes off clear.



Shake out the excess water and set the jar up at an angle so that water can drain out and air can circulate in. Repeat this rinsing and draining once a day until your lentils are sprouted.



These were grey pardina lentils -- they sprouted all the way in about two days, sometimes I've had lentils that took longer than that. You can do this exact same thing with mung beans, adzuki beans, or chickpeas.



After they are fully sprouted I like to throw together a sort of half-composed salad. Today I topped about a cup of lentils with a half of an avocado, a tablespoon of sweetened shredded coconut, some raisins, some salt and pepper, and some black sesame seeds to make people think I am a super-fancy gourmet. I made a little vinaigrette to put on the side.



I've also made this with curry powder and cashews. That's also pretty good, but a little "pointy," as Liz might say. You can add diced red onion if you like the taste of onions. (There is some contention in the household re: the deliciousness of onions.)

They are pretty earthy and hearty, so you can really stack some bold flavors against them. Sprouted lentils are way healthy for you and are always delicious.