I’d been wanting to try mung beans for a little while now. Well, other than the way I am so used to eating them, that is.
Much to my surprise, I recently found out that I’d been enjoying them all my life, without even knowing it! In fact, it wasn’t until I saw that cute looking little green bean at the store and decided to look it it that I learned that bean sprouts, the ones we are all so familiar with for they are regularly used in Asian cuisine, are in fact sprouted mung beans!
But before all that sprouting action takes place, there is a bean, and an unbelievably cute bean at that! They almost look like little jewels, I find. I have to admit that they are much cuter in their dry state, but still, I am happy I tried them cooked, as opposed to sprouted.
Will I be cooking them again? Sure thing! But now that I know how to sprout them myself, you can be sure that I will be giving that a try fairly soon! That AND other beans and seeds too!
I guess that means you can expect to see quite a few salad recipes “sprout” on these pages in the very near future!
Good thing summer is here! 
INGREDIENTS
- ½ cup mung beans, cooked and cooled
- 1 cup quinoa, cooked and cooled
- ½ cup red onion, finely chopped
- ½ cup fresh flat parsely, chopped
- 2 small carrots, diced
- 4 small beets, cooked, cooled and diced
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp old style grain mustard
- ½ tsp marinated garlic flowers
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp salt
- Black pepper to taste
- 2 tbsp mint, chopped
- Whole mint leaves
INSTRUCTIONS
- Cook quinoa and mung beans per instructions on package. Allow to cool completely in the refrigerator.
- Mix all ingredients for the salad together in a medium size mixing bowl.
- In a separate bowl, whisk all the ingredients for the dressing and pour over salad.
- Toss to combine. If you can, allow to marinate for a few hours in the refrigerator, to allow flavours to fully develop.
- Garnish with chopped and whole mint leaves.
What is a garlic flower?
I enjoy your blog, thanks for your efforts!
In fact, I made a mistake. It’s fermented garlic flowers. This is the stuff that I use, but there are other brands out there, too. I find this to be very convenient, quick and easy way to add garlic to my dishes, plus it doesn’t go rancid and is so flavorful. Not quite as strong as raw garlic, but still very garlicy indeed. You really don’t need to use much at all: a little goes a long way!
My brother gave this to me as a Christmas present, and I just instantly fell in love. I will be buying this product again for sure!
Glad you’re enjoying my blog! Thank YOU for visiting!
I went ahead and made this using garlic I already had. My husband took one taste and said this salad is an “explosion of kick ass flavors.” Thanks we share your love of quinoa and really enjoyed the patties with the poached eggs.
Hehe! I really like that review! Explosion of kick ass flavors. I can go for that!
Thanks a lot, Cindy and Cindy’s husband! 
This recipe looks unbelievable, I’m gonna try it really soon.
I recently wrote an article on the health benefits of quinoa, check it out.
http://www.theironyou.com/2011/03/more-on-quinoa.html
Peace
Mike @TheIronYou
Thanks Mike. I will definitely check out your article on quinoa. It sounds extremely interesting! Thanks for sharing!
Recipe sounds delicious!
Quick question though, the beets are raw?
Oops… it might have been a good idea to specify that in the recipe… I’ll go and update it right away. The beets that I used in this one were in fact cooked and cooled. Thanks for pointing that out, Melina!