In Chinese cuisine, bean sprouts generally refers to either the mung bean or the soybean sprout.
The latter is bigger. Not rocket science since the soybean is much larger. See pictures below.
Mung bean sprout. Photo source: Stefan Eberlein at wikimedia
Soybean sprouts. Photo source: karendotcom127 at Wikimedia
Bean sprouts are more nutritious than the beans. They are high in Vitamin C and soluble fibre. They are great as dietary supplement for heart protection, oral ulcers, constipation and colon cancer prevention.
They are sold with or without their straggly roots. The roots can be eaten but my family prefers to remove the roots first. I remember competing with my siblings over who can pinch the roots off the fastest. Now that I am older, I suspect that the competition was my grandmother's ploy to get us to help her since it can be quite boring if you are pinching roots alone.
You can buy them with their roots already removed. Convenient but once pinched, they must be used immediately. They starts to go bad. Alternatively, grow bean sprouts on your own. It is super easy and here is how you do it.
- Take a bunch of mung beans and wash them
- Remove any that float
- Soak the rest in room temperature water overnight or until you can see splits
- Get a flat shallow tray and lay a thin layer of cotton wool or muslin cloth over it
- Spread the split beans evenly throughout
- Leave them near the window sill but not under direct sunlight
- Harvest them when they are about 2 inch high
- Remove the roots before use
These sprouts are quite versatile. They have been used in salads, wraps, soups, fried noodles and rice or stir-fried together with other vegetables.
The Koreans have also pickled the soybean sprouts. It is a very good appetitizer. Both sprouts can be eaten raw but they can be spicy. The Vietnamese uses raw sprouts in their rice paper rolls. I always dipped the rolls in thick sweet sauce to mask the spiciness. Yes, I prefer mine well cooked with the bite and edge cooked out.
In my humble opinion, the easiet way to use them is to add them to a pot of hot clear chinese soup. They are great in quick soups or noodle soups but do not add to soups meant for long simmering.
They cook quickly so they should be blanched and dunked into cold water or quick-fried to retain their crunchy texture.
Choose firm and white ones. Avoid those with spots. If you are keeping them for a while, air them for a while, then wrap them in used newspapers or baking sheets to keep them dry. If they are wet, they turn mushy quickly.
They are quite easy to clean. Remove the roots before soaking and washing. Some people even remove the heads but I find that too tedious and the heads are visually quite pleasing.
Search for soup recipes containing bean sprouts.
