How to Sprout Black Lentils for Optimal Nutrition
An easy to follow guide for sprouting your own lentils!
Equipment
- Medium mixing bowl, preferably glass
- Mesh strainer
- Kitchen towel or paper towel
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried black beluga lentils
- 3-4 cups filtered water, plus more for cooking
- sea salt, for cooking and seasoning
Instructions
Day 1:
- Rinse and sort through your dried lentils, removing any debris from processing (this is important, don't skip!). Once they're clean, place the lentils in a medium size glass bowl.
- Heat about twice the amount of water as you have lentils. The water is ready when it's fairly warm, but you are still able to comfortably touch it without getting burned. Remember, you’re not cooking the lentils, you just want to gently encourage them to sprout.
- Pour the water over your lentils so that about 3” covers the top. They will soak it up and expand, so give them enough room.
- Place a paper towel or clean dish towel over the bowl and allow the lentils to soak for 8 hours, or overnight.
Day 2:
- Once the lentils are done soaking, drain off the water and rinse them in a mesh strainer. Rinse and wipe out your mixing bowl, and place the strainer with your lentils in it over the bowl. Cover with a paper towel or kitchen towel and place somewhere safe on your kitchen counter.
- Continue to rinse the lentils every 3-4 hours to encourage sprouting. You don’t want them to dry out, similar to if you were sprouting seeds in soil. Depending on the temperature in your kitchen, you should start seeing little “tails” emerge in about a day or so (the warmer the temperature, the quicker they will sprout). This means they’re sprouted and ready to cook! My lentils usually sprout in about 24 hours.
- Rinse them in cold water and cook until done to your liking (15-20 minutes in a pot of salted boiling water for me). Drain and season to taste with salt.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
