Getting ready for spring? Many people plant gardens if they can during the growing season, but you can also have a small garden indoors on your windowsill year-round. Even if you live in an apartment and don’t have a lot of time, it's still possible to have a tiny garden. Growing plants is a self-care activity that can bring back multifold benefits. During the winter, I found 2 books about growing little indoor gardens. Because there was so much information in these books, I definitely didn’t pick up everything, but I do want to share some helpful lessons I learned.
A couple of books that might be helpful are:
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Plantas Medicinales en mi Balcón by Serge Schall
This book has pictures and a lot of information about different types of plants (especially herbs) you can grow indoors. It reads like a reference book and was more difficult for me to get into than the following book.
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El Libro de los Germinados by Ann Wigmore
This is a book about how to grow bean sprouts in your own home. It has step-by-step instructions for how to choose the right beans, grow the beans, and cook the sprouts. There are even recipes for salads that include bean sprouts as an ingredient. Did you know that some bean sprout meals might have as much vitamin C as an orange? I didn’t know until I read this book.
After reading a good part of El Libro de los Germinados, I tried to sprout my own bean sprouts. They sprouted, and I cooked them. I ended up serving the dish at dinner with others. Several people told me the dish tasted really good. It was a success! Here are the steps so you can do the same!
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Get some beans.
The book recommends a variety of beans, but lentils, green soybeans, alfalfa, and peas are options. I used mung beans.
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Wash the beans and soak them overnight.
I washed the mung beans gently 2-3 times to remove dirt, bad seeds, and other debris. Then I put the mung beans to soak in a pot and covered the mung beans with a lid. Put the pot in a dark, warm place, which, in my case, was an unused oven.
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Drain the beans.
The next morning, I drained the mung beans and gently washed them again. After I did that, I removed most of the water and put the lid back on them. I again put the covered pot in a dark, warm place.
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Wash the mung beans again.
The next morning, a majority of the mung beans had sprouted, but I wanted the sprouts to be a little bigger. I needed to wait for them to grow more. I washed the sprouts gently and drained them again, and replaced the lid, setting it back in the oven.
The next day, the sprouts had grown enough to be able to eat, so I washed them gently again and removed them from the pot. It was time to cook them for dinner! Most of the sprouts looked healthy and delicious for eating, but if anything is spoiled, smells or looks rotten remove those sprouts as soon as you notice the problem.
When the fully sprouted sprouts were ready, I was excited to cook them to share with others. Here is the recipe for how I cooked my sprouted mung beans.
Sprouted Mung Bean Salad
This can be a stand-alone dish, or it can also be used as a crunchy condiment on a sandwich with hummus.
Ingredients
Canola oil or oil of your choice
1 small sprinkle asafoetida
1 small sprinkle of mustard seeds
1 small sprinkle cumin seeds
1 chopped onion
3-4 cloves of chopped garlic
2-3 cups sprouted mung beans
1 sprinkle red chili powder to taste
1 very small sprinkle of turmeric
½ tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground cumin
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
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Heat the oil in the bottom of a pot. Keep the heat on medium to avoid burning the ingredients.
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Add the mustard and cumin seeds with the asafoetida to the oil that is warming. Allow the seeds to begin moving and popping before adding the next ingredients.
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Add the chopped onion and allow it to cook until soft and transparent.
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Add the garlic, stirring occasionally to ensure it does not burn.
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Then, add the mung beans and allow them to cook thoroughly. They will change color and become softer.
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Sprinkle in all other remaining seasonings to taste.
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Cook thoroughly until all flavors are mixed together. (If you cook the sprouts for longer or in a skillet, they might become crunchy. I cooked them until they were soft and no longer raw.)
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Take off the stove and serve warm.
When I served this dish at dinner, I got a lot of compliments about how great it tasted and how healthy it was. Some people found inspiration to grow sprouts of their own as well. I am curious to sprout other types of beans and seeds. I plan to make another sprout salad with a variety of different sprouts and maybe also make sprout-filled sandwiches with homemade hummus. There are a lot of possibilities. This book by Ann Wigmore talks about soups with sprouts and even desserts!
Definitely, self care through healthy eating and cultivating plants takes time and space. It's totally worth it, though. When you are able to make a dish for others, it brings people closer together. I can see loads of opportunities in having a small windowsill garden and sprouting beans and seeds weekly. These ideas were new to me, but I am open to learning more through books and personal experiences. Many people feel the same way. I hope your discoveries brighten your days, too.