I love the flavour and texture of sprouted lentils – not to mention the fact that they’re bursting with vitamins, minerals and other good things. Sprouting your own is incredibly easy. It takes a few days to get them going, but your hands-on work time can be counted in minutes. Apart from in a simple stir-fry like this, sprouting lentils are great scattered over buttered new potatoes, sautéed with a little chorizo and garlic, or added raw to a grated cheese sandwich with a dollop of mayo.
Serves 2
100g green or Puy lentils
50g cashew nuts
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
1 garlic clove, very thinly sliced
Juice of 1 lime
1 tablespoon soy sauce
A couple of large handfuls of coriander (leaves only), to finish
To get your lentils sprouting, place them in a large glass jar and cover with cold water. Cut a square of muslin or cheesecloth and use an elastic band to fasten it over the jar. Don’t use a lid because you want the lentils to be able to breathe.
After about 24 hours, drain off the water. After that, you simply need to rinse and drain the lentils twice a day, morning and night, for a further 4–5 days, keeping them in their jar under the muslin cover. On the second or third day, you will see tender, pale shoots. In another couple of days these will have grown into little wiggly tails of 2cm or so, and you’ll have what looks like a jar of little lentilly tadpoles. Give them a final rinse, drain well and they are ready to eat, raw or cooked. Store them in a clean container in the fridge and use within 5 days.
To make the stir-fry, set a frying pan over a high heat. Add the cashews and toss them quickly in the dry pan for 2–3 minutes to toast evenly. Add the oil and garlic and cook for a matter of seconds. Then, before the garlic gets a chance to burn, add the sprouted lentils. Toss them around in the pan for 1–2 minutes before adding the lime juice and soy sauce.
Immediately transfer to warm plates, scatter over lots of coriander and serve, with rice if you like.