Easy way to sprout legumes
Chickpeas are a great source of protein, fibre and minerals, but many of us have a hard time digesting them, and that makes sense! The bean form of the plant is a storage form and keeps its good stuff locked up and protected by anti-nutrients.
Just like with sourdough for bread, sprouting legumes and grains helps to process the food outside of our body first, in order to make the inside-of-our-body digestive process a little easier.
Sprouting is VERY easy. Fill the bottom of a jar with your bean/grain of choice, and then fill the container all the way to the top and let soak overnight.
In the morning, pour off all of the water, and let the jar with beans/grains inside sit on the counter (out of the sun) all day. I like to use a sprouting top to keep any fruit flies out, but you can really just use your hand to pour off the water at each rinse.
In the evening re-fill the jar with water, give it a few swishes, and pour off the water again. I do this a couple of times just to be sure any bacteria/mold/yeast is thoroughly removed. Place the water-less container back on the counter and leave until morning.
Continue to rinse and swish twice per day until you see little tails grow. I then encourage you to use the pressure cooker to cook your beans/grains to further improve digestibility. I know that this reduces some nutrient content, but I believe improve digestibility is more important when using beans in particular as a part of a complete and nutritious diet.
If I’ve sprouted and cooked chickpeas, I like to make either roasted chickpeas with zatar spice for salad topping, or I make this yummy hummus recipe from Rainbow Plant Life. Way better than any hummus you’ll find in the store and very cheap and easy to make at home.