Sprouted Moong Salad

Sprouted whole green gram is eaten across India and in Kerala usually appears steamed, with coconut, as a breakfast dish beside kanji. This version is raw and dressed, which is closer to a pachadi in spirit than to a Western salad. Sprouting is nearly free and takes two days of no attention, and it changes the pulse: the seed's own enzymes begin breaking down starch and the oligosaccharides that cause wind, and the bean sweetens and softens enough to eat without cooking. Read the food-safety box before you start, because raw sprouts are the one item in this book that carries a genuine microbiological caution.

> Sprouting safely, and who should not eat these raw at all. The US Food and Drug Administration explains the hazard in one sentence: sprouts are grown from seed in warm, humid conditions, and "these conditions are ideal for the growth of bacteria, including Salmonella, Listeria, and E. coli." The seed itself is where the contamination begins, which is why the FDA's advice does not depend on how clean your kitchen is. > > The instruction that matters most, and it is the FDA's, not this book's. "Vulnerable populations should avoid eating raw or lightly cooked sprouts of any kind (including onion, alfalfa, clover, radish, and mung bean sprouts)." The FDA's guidance for pregnancy is more direct still: "avoid eating raw sprouts of any kind (including alfalfa, clover, radish, and mung bean)", and "cook sprouts thoroughly. This significantly reduces the risk of illness." Health Canada names the same groups and adds the older reader: "children, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems are particularly vulnerable to these bacteria and should not eat any raw sprouts at all", and should "avoid eating cooked sprouts unless they can be sure the sprouts have been thoroughly cooked." So: if you are pregnant, elderly, very young, or your immune system is suppressed for any reason, do not eat these raw — steam them for 4–5 minutes instead, which this recipe accommodates in the swap list. The same applies to sprouts in a restaurant sandwich or salad, which the FDA suggests asking to have left out. > > The home-sprouting method below is this book's own practice, not an authority's, because no food-safety authority publishes a home-sprouting temperature, a rinse frequency or a refrigerated shelf life. It is sensible kitchen craft and it is labelled as such. One, use whole pulses sold for eating, not seed sold for planting, which may be treated with fungicide. Two, wash your hands, the jar, the cloth and the colander in hot soapy water first. Three, rinse the sprouting beans in clean running water twice a day, every day, and drain them completely each time; standing water is the problem. Four, sprout at cool room temperature, not in a warm cupboard, and never above 25°C (77°F). Five, smell and look at them: sprouts that smell sour, musty or sweetish, or feel slimy, or show any discolouration at the root, go in the bin — no rinsing rescues them. Six, refrigerate as soon as they are ready and use within two days. None of this changes the FDA's position for the groups named above, and none of it makes a raw sprout safe for them.