Raw vegan mung bean sprouts and pine nuts salad
If you know me on facebook you must have already seen me actively 'liking', and 'commenting', unlike my usual virtual self that comes online for a precious half an hour daily. The reason is that I am on a real, long break from work. It has been quite some time since I took time off for enjoyment. I was on a break a couple of months ago for a week or so, but that was because one of us was sick, so it does not qualify as a 'holiday'. This time it does and am experiencing exhilaration!! I am going to be around for the kids when they come back from school and hopefully we will spend some time reflecting on important things too!
Yesterday, being the first day of holiday, all I did the whole day was, played Green Day and sang along at the lowest possible notes I could hit as I have a tendency to sing at high pitch, and then I indulged myself with a long afternoon siesta that ran into the evening. This morning I decided I must get down to doing something more constructive like maybe update the blog, go watch a movie and a visit to the parlour!
Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend a vegan workshop by Dr.Nandita Shah. Dr.Nandita Shah is a vegan homeopath and practices at the 'Quiet Healing Centre' at Auroville. I had read a lot about her workshops and vegan cooking, so I reserved a place for myself immediately when I came to know about the Kalaghoda workshop. The one I attended is 'Peas and Pills'. She has been successful in reversing diabetes and many other ailments by helping people adapt the vegan diet. If you are interested do keep a watch on her schedule at Sharan's website. The workshop is a scientific approach to healing your body through natural food and gives an insight into how that can be achieved without resorting to pills.
My daughter, Jr.H, happens to have a severe condition of acne that has not healed through allopathy. She is undergoing a homeopathic treatment also but my husband and I felt that the best medication would be for her to go through a cleansing process of the body. She is practically vegan since I am the cook at home but she does consume milk once a week or so in some form or the other. Since yesterday, she and I are on a fifteen day vegan trial. She for the cleanse and I for the moral support and experience! I do not have much experience in cooking raw vegan except for salads so it is going to be a culinary experience as well.
Our breakfast is going to be the same everyday - a bowlful of fruits twice in the morning. We had a round of papayas and a round of kiwis today.
This tasty sprout salad was our lunch. I added some crushed pine nuts for mild sweetness along with a simple Italian dressing.
Dish:Raw vegan mung bean sprouts and pine nuts salad
Serves: 2 if taken for lunch by itself
Ingredients:
Mung beans sprouted to an inch long - 200g
(Soak mung beans for 4-5 hours in water. Drain in a colander. Keep it covered over a vessel of similar diameter, in a dark spot and leave for two or three days till the roots are an inch long.)
Pine nuts (not roasted) - 2tbsp., crushed in mortar roughly or chopped into two
Olive oil - 1 tbsp. + 1/2 tsp.(I used less but you can add more if you want)
Chilli flakes - 1 tsp.
Thyme - 7-8 sprigs, trimmed
Coriander - 2 tbsp., chopped (I use the stalks as well)
Salt - to taste (I used pink salt - saindhav namak)
Juice of 1 lime - about 1 tbsp.
Note:
Pine nuts can be replaced with almonds or walnuts as well.
Raw vegan mung bean sprouts and pine nuts salad
Method:
Wash the sprouted mung beans and drain for 15 minutes, to get rid of skin that has separated.
Bash the thyme with 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil (I used extra virgin) roughly in a mortar.
Whisk together the olive oil, thyme mix, chilli flakes and lemon juice in a small bowl.
Take the sprouts in a large mixing bowl. Add the crushed pine nuts and mix to spread it uniformly through the sprouts.
Add the dressing and coriander and toss well along with salt.
Dig immediately.
I also drank up a bit of the dressing that remained at the bottom. It was an ideal lunch. Light to beat the heat and freshening because of the flavours and juice.
Are you wondering whether we are skipping desserts? No way! I am just letting my raw vegan ice cream set in the freezer.
A couple of weeks ago, Eefa, a photographer I met on Flickr asked me whether I would do some posts for Dawn. Dawn is Pakistan's leading daily and I was a tad skeptical whether my vegan recipes would appeal to a predominantly meat eating country. But then, vegan food is holistic, and can help heal the body naturally by providing essential nutrients and eliminating toxins so I could not see reason for anyone not to appreciate the healing factor. I took the plunge to reach beyond the geographical boundary. We are testing waters with my pumpkin soup that appeared in this blog sometime back here. Valli, thanks for showing your support with the first comment!!
Labels: Bean sprouts, Dawn Blog, Food Photography, Food Styling, Harini P, Mung beans, Olive Oil, Pine nuts, Raw Vegan, Raw vegan lunch, Salads, Sunshinemom, Tongue ticklers
