I USED to hate vegetables in all forms.
“How come you like carrot cake, Uncle?” my nephew Polonggoy asked. I looked at this beloved son of my cousin Dona and had to admire him. He had a point.
“That’s veggie in disguise, Polongski.”
However, my war against vegetables is a thing of the past now.
Today, I am a fan of anything that grows under and above the soil. In particular, I like mung bean sprouts. Unfortunately, the ones I usually buy at the local market have seen better days since they were, ah, born. OK—sprouted. (“Can I put a smiley here?” The voice-over replied: “No, you can’t.”)
Though I don’t have green thumb, I delved into sprouting my own mung babies. I bought one-half kilo mung beans and went home excited about my latest kitchen project.
“Project, Obz? I never thought you had any project,” my Uncle Gustave said by way of teasing me. I let that pass.
As soon as I got home, I washed the green beans three times, while gently rubbing them. Next, I took out a medium plastic flower pot I had in the storage cabinet. It had drainage holes at the bottom. I lined it with used net bag. You can use any old mosquito net or some other netting material that will prevent the mung beans from falling out. By the way, make sure you use ultra clean materials. Just saying.
You can use any vessel with drainage, such as big colanders or steaming pots. You can even use a strainer for small batches of mung bean sprouts.
I topped the netting with paper towel to help retain some of the moisture once I started watering the beans regularly. To better drain the pot, I set it on a mug filled with marbles for weight and on a deep tray to catch the draining water.
Into the flower pot, I placed the beans and thoroughly watered it. I placed it in a cool and semi-lit place and covered the mouth of the flower pot with a dark cloth.
To encourage growth and fat sprouts, I watered the beans every three hours. After two days, I uncovered a flower pot full of baby sprouts.
It was a happy day for me. (There’s a towel method: Like a flat space with plastic and top with an old, wet towel. Layer the mung beans on top of the towel and cover with dark cloth. Sprinkle with water every three hours or so.)
Waiting is truly a killing game, but after six days I had my very own garden of mung bean sprouts. They had tripled in volume, so now I had one and a half kilo of mung bean sprouts. No wonder selling mung bean sprouts is a profitable business. I might start my own mung bean sprout company. Next week, I’ll share what I did with my mung bean sprouts.