Fruity n Healthy Sprouts Salad

This is actually a sweet and simple salad that I made using Horsegram Sprouts and fruits available.Horsegram also known as gahat,kulith/kulath,kollu,muthira,ulavalu in India is an excellent source of iron and can be sprouted as other legumes.Sprouted horsegram is also known as matki in Hindi.Both horsegram and its sprouts are used in several Indian dishes and also salads.I wanted to have a different dish with the sprouts had and since sweet dishes based on this are less,I made a fruit,nuts and oats salad with this.The recipe is quite simple.

Ingredients:

HorseGram Sprouts: 1/2 cup
Old fashioned Oats: handful
Almonds: handful
Mixed fruits: 1/2 cup
(I used apples,pomegranate,small banana,sweet lime etc )
Dried Cherries,raisins,cranberries etc :handful .(I used green cherry halves).

Honey
Ginger Powder
Lemon juice: 1-2 tsp (optional)

Other optional Topping Ideas:
Sweetened whipped cream
Any fruit Yogurt
Lightly toasted bread or puffpastry circles

Preparation:

Lightly steam sprouts for 10-15 minutes or until they become soft.Horsegram sprouts retain the shape and do not turn mushy.You can optionally add just a small pinch of salt to it while steaming.I did not.In a small pan/skillet,dry roast oats till it starts to brown.Remove and keep aside.Similarly dry roast almonds and keep aside. Chop the fruits into small cubes or pieces,peeling and deseeding if needed.

In a big bowl,mix together sprouts,chopped fruits,oats,almonds,dried cherries or raisins and powdered ginger and honey.Chill well adding little lemon juice so that the fruits do not turn black.

Serve as a dessert or quick breakfast topped with more honey or nuts or dried fruits or whipped cream.Also can be used as a topping to ice cream or alternatively use with sweetened whipped cream or fruit yoghurt on top of toasted bread as sweet canapes.

You can use your choice of sprouts or mixed sprouts.Instead of oats you can use riceflakes or whatever you feel like.Also make your own choice of fruits,dry fruits and nuts.

Generally sprouts are rich in digestible energy, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, proteins etc and these nutrients are essential for human health. (wiki).Though raw sprouts can also be consumed,I prefer lightly steaming them for salads or even pressurecooking them.The cooking time varies for different sprouts.

While googling on Horse Gram sprouts ,some delicacies I came across were:
Sprouts Pongal and Sprout salad by Jayasree of KailasKitchen
Sprouts Sambar by Priya of PriyasEasyNTastyRecipes
Sprouts Curry by LG of Taste of Mysore
and several prominent ones.Also checkout the BlackEyed Peas Sprouts Pasta by Yasmeen of Healthnut.

This fruity n healthy Sprouts Salad is on its way to Weekend Wokking :Sprouts,even started by Wandering Chopsticks and currently hosted by KC of Kitschow.