Beansprouts help

cliffsgirl

I had a lovely salad the other day with beansprouts and tomatoes, so i decided to make it my self, i bought a bag of beansprouts, i just wanted to ask do i cook them first, or can i eat then raw,
thanks

jrrowleyws

Depends what you like, personally I love them raw, so cruchy. When cooked (30-60second blanch) they go more mushy and less crisp and crunchy.

Just give them a good wash before eating!

kethry

if you can't eat em raw then we're in trouble cos both OH and i were munching away on 'em raw earlier today!

the way i cook them: finely slice 2 cloves garlic, 1 red chilli, finger ginger, onion, half a green pepper, half a red pepper, broccoli stem, stalk of celery, a smallish carrot and a few mushrooms (feel free to add/leave out any veg, just think how quickly it would cook then add it in the appropriate place in the cooking order. I've used things like straw mushrooms, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, even quartered (lengthwise) baby corn on the cob - which look amazingly like octopus tentacles when cooked this way!).

Also make up an empty jam jar with: couple tablespoons of soy sauce, teaspoon or two of Oyster Sauce, some rice wine (normal white will do if you can't get rice wine), teaspoon of chinese fivespice, half a teaspoon of powdered lemongrass (not essential), teaspoon of honey or half a teaspoon of granulated sugar. stick the lid on and shake vigorously.

Also put a couple of teaspoons of cornflour in a cup and add cold water. stir.

get the wok/pan good n hot and pour some oil in - not a lot, just enough to coat the pan. Then stir fry the garlic/chilli/ginger, wait a few minutes, then the onion/pepper, stir fry a few minutes, then the celery, broccoli stem, carrot, stir fry a few minutes, then the mushrooms, give it a few minutes, then add the beansprouts. just dump in the wok and leave for a couple minutes as the steam from the veg underneath will soften them and make them *much* easier to work with. then stir the veg through the beansprouts. The beansprouts collapse some as they soften, so what looks alarmingly "OMG i'm never going to eat all that" becomes more manageable.. heh. when the veg are cooked to your liking (which is different to everyone's liking) shake the jam jar again to redistribute the ingredients inside, pour over the veg, stir throughly to coat the veg with the sauce and give it a chance to warm up, a minute or two. once that's done stir the cup with the cornflour/water mix in and toss that in too, and stir. that will thicken the sauce. if you don't like a thick sauce, feel free to leave it out.

the amounts i've given above will feed two-three *hungry* people with some leftovers (i usually make egg fried rice with this too, but then OH loves chinese food). on the plus side it *does* re-heat very easily, and since its all veg, is very healthy. i wouldn't quite call it completely vegetarian though as oystersauce isn't veggie - although there may be some vegetarian equivalents on the market.

not authentic chinese but very very yummy.

keth
xx