Easy, healthy, wholesome, and fresh, sprouted moong salad recipe made from mung bean sprouts, fresh vegetables, herbs, nuts, and a few Indian seasonings. Vegan, gluten-free, and oil-free.
Today, I am sharing a simple sprout salad with mung bean sprouts, carrots, cucumber, onions, tomatoes, and roasted peanuts, to make a colorful, crunchy, and nutritious salad.
To make it South Indian kosambari style, you can add freshly grated coconut and a tempering of mustard seeds, cumin, curry leaves, and asafoetida to the salad. It is served as a side dish at most weddings and festive occasions.
Growing up, my mom made this salad at least once a week at our home, along with other favorites, hesarubele southekayi kosambari, and hesarubele carrot kosambari.
If you are making this ahead, then chop the veggies, prepare the sprouts, and store all the ingredients in an airtight container in the refrigerator. When you are ready to serve, squeeze some lime juice, and salt, and mix well.
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How to Make Sprouts at Home?
- To sprout whole green moong beans, rinse and soak them in clean water for at least 8 hours or overnight.
- Drain the water and keep the drained moong bean in a bowl, cover it, and keep it aside in a warm place for a day or two.
- You will see the sprouts start to grow. If you prefer longer sprouts, keep them for another day and splash some water on them to prevent drying. Sprouts can be used in salads and curries. They can be refrigerated for up to 3 to 4 days in an airtight container.
Here is the detailed recipe for "How to Sprout Moong Beans".
Ingredients
- Sprouted Moong beans: I have used only sprouted moong beans in this salad; you may also sprout other legumes like moth beans, chickpeas, and horse gram and add them to this salad. You can use either homemade or store-bought sprouts. These days, you can also find moong sprouts from Indian grocery stores.
- Vegetables: I have used cucumber, shredded carrots, onions, tomatoes, and green chili. You may also add grated raw mango when in season.
- Roasted peanuts: I roughly crushed roasted peanuts in a mortar and pestle, which gives them a nice crunch.
- Herbs: I used finely chopped coriander leaves. If you are making chaat style, then you can also add green chutney, which is usually added to the chaats.
- Seasonings: I have used salt, black pepper, and chaat masala. Chaat Masala (I like the Everest brand) is easily available in Indian grocery or on Amazon.
How to Make Sprouted Mung Bean Salad
Boil some water in a large pot. Add 1.5 cups of moong sprouts and parboil them for about 5-6 minutes until they are half-cooked and slightly tender. Remove, drain the excess water, and set aside. You can also steam the sprouts for 5-6 minutes using the Instant Pot pressure cooker.
In a large mixing bowl, add the following ingredients:
- 1 ½ cups parboiled sprouted moong beans
- 2 tablespoons onion, finely chopped
- 1 medium tomato, de seeded and chopped (about ½ cup)
- 1 medium carrot, shredded (about 1 cup)
- 1 medium persian cucumber, diced (about ¾ cup)
- 1 green chili, finely chopped (optional)
- ¼ cup roasted peanuts
- ½ teaspoon chaat masala
- salt and black pepper to taste
- juice of half a lime
- 2 tablespoons coriander leaves, finely chopped
Toss to combine.
Serve immediately or refrigerate the moong sprouts salad for 30 minutes and then serve.
Serving Suggestions
Pair this healthy moong sprouts bean salad with soup for lunch or dinner. You can also serve it as a side dish with steamed basmati rice, dal tadka or eat it as a snack with your evening masala tea.
Storage & Make-Ahead
- Make-Ahead: Prep the mung bean sprouts, veggies, and herbs the night before and store them in separate airtight glass containers. When you're ready to serve, toss the salad ingredients with nuts, seasonings, and lime juice.
- Storage: Leftover moong salad will last in the refrigerator for up to 1-2 days in an airtight container or mason jar.
Tips for Indian Mung Bean Salad
- Steaming sprouts: You can make this salad with raw sprouts, but I highly recommend steaming or parboiling them before using them in the salad. Cooking sprouts reduces the risk of bacteria.
- Indian Chaat style: You can make chaat style salad by adding coriander mint chutney and tamarind chutney for this sprout salad recipe.
- Serve Immediately: Salads taste fresh and are best when served immediately after preparation. Salads leave out the water and get soggy after adding seasonings or salt to the veggies.
Variations
- Other kinds of sprouts: You can add your choice of sprouts, such as chickpea sprouts, moth bean sprouts, pea sprouts, horse gram sprouts, and alfalfa sprouts, or a combination of them, to this salad.
- Other vegetables: You can add other vegetables such as grated beetroot, bell peppers, red radish, red cabbage, raw mango, avocado, and sweet corn.
- Fruits: To add sweetness and extra nutrition to the salad, you may add pomegranate arils and chopped apples.
- Add other nuts or seeds: If you don't like roasted peanuts, you may replace them with roasted almonds, walnuts, cashews, or seeds like pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, or flax seeds for extra crunch.
- Other spices: You can add spices like roasted cumin powder to give the salad an earthy and nutty flavor.
- Fresh herbs: You can add mint leaves for freshness and bright flavors.
Frequently Asked Questions
Some of the best sprouts for salads are from mung beans, moth beans, lentils, horse gram, and chickpeas.
Parboiled moong sprouts can be enjoyed in salads, sandwiches, or chaats. They can also be cooked and added to stir-fries, curries, khichdi, dosa, and soups. It's recommended to steam or parboil sprouts to eliminate any possible contaminants. If using store-bought moong sprouts, rinse them thoroughly in water before consuming them to remove any dirt or residue.
Sprouted Moong Salad Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups sprouted moong beans
- 2 tablespoons onion finely chopped
- 1 medium tomato de seeded and chopped (about ½ cup)
- 1 medium carrot shredded (about 1 cup)
- 1 medium persian cucumber diced (about ¾ cup)
- 1 green chili finely chopped (optional)
- ¼ cup roasted peanuts
- ½ teaspoon chaat masala
- salt and black pepper to taste
- juice of half lime
- 2 tablespoons coriander leaves
Instructions
- Boil some water in a large pot. Parboil the sprouts, i.e., add the moong sprouts into the boiling water and cook for about 5-6 minutes (until they are half cooked and slightly tender). Remove, drain excess water and keep aside. You can also steam the sprouts for 5-6 minutes using the Instant pot pressure cooker.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine mung bean sprouts, onions, cucumber, tomatoes, carrots, green chili, cilantro, roasted peanuts, and seasonings like chaat masala, salt, black pepper, and lime juice. Toss to combine.
- Serve immediately or refrigerate the moong sprouts salad for 30 minutes and then serve.
Video
Notes
Tips for Indian Mung Bean Salad
- Steaming sprouts: You can make this salad with raw sprouts, but I highly recommend steaming or parboiling them before using them in the salad. Cooking sprouts reduces the risk of bacteria.
- Indian Chaat style: You can make chaat style salad by adding coriander mint chutney and tamarind chutney for this sprout salad recipe.
- Serve Immediately: Salads taste fresh and are best when served immediately after preparation. Salads leave out the water and get soggy after adding seasonings or salt to the veggies.
Variations
- Other kinds of sprouts: You can use your choices of sprouts, like chickpeas sprouts, moth bean sprouts, horse gram sprouts, and alfalfa sprouts, or a combination of them to this salad.
- Other vegetables: You can add other vegetables such as grated beetroot, bell peppers, red radish, red cabbage, raw mango, and, sweet corn.
- Fruits: You may add pomegranate arils, and chopped apples to add sweetness and extra nutrition to the salad.
- Add other nuts or seeds: If you don't like roasted peanuts, you may replace them with roasted almonds, walnuts, cashews, or seeds like pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, or flax seeds for extra crunch.
- Other spices: You can add spices like roasted cumin powder to add an earthy and nutty flavor to the salad.
- Fresh herbs: You can add mint leaves for freshness and bright flavors.
How to Make Sprouts at Home?
- To sprout the whole green moong bean, rinse and soak them in clean water for at least 8 hours or overnight.
- Drain the water and keep the drained moong bean in a bowl, cover it and keep it aside in a warm place for a day or two.
- You will see them sprouting. If you want longer sprouts, then keep them for one more day (splash some water on the sprouts, so they don't dry up). You can use sprouts in salads, and curries. Sprouts can be refrigerated for up to 3 to 4 days in an airtight container.
Nutrition
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Radhika
Yummiest form of sprouts I've had
Bhavana Patil
Hi Radhika, I am so glad you liked the recipe 🙂
elaine dsa
Tried this recipe yesterday. Was yummy. I did not have cucumber so I added fresh figs. Combination was yummy. Thank you for sharing!
P.S. I also mistakenly sprouted Urad Dal - but turned out yummy anyways. 🙂
Bhavana Patil
Hello Elaine, thank you for trying out the recipe & improvising it to suit your needs 😊 Have a great day 😊