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Basic Recipes

On Sprouts

Given half a chance, someone out there will try to sell you exotic technology for sprouting various things for the table. But really, the key in the kitchen is to keep things simple. All you really require is a bowl, unless the seeds are exceedingly tiny. If so, you can add a strainer to your panoply of paraphernalia.
Put the seeds into a bowl. Rinse with water.* Drain, using your other hand against the edge of the bowl to keep the seeds in. Repeat twice a day or so until the sprouts have grown ready to use. Don't let them sit in water, and don't let them dry out, either.
Alfalfa
The common name of this plant may derive from the Arabic for ‘Mother of All Foods.’ Certainly the adult plant is delicious and nutritious, and the sprouts are quite commonly eaten, as well as being absurdly easy to nurture. The seeds themselves are said to contain toxic proteins, of which we would like to know more. Another problem with this product is that there are possibly a lot of other clovers and whatnot mixed into your seeds; if you doubt us then plant some 'alfalfa' seeds in the garden and see what comes up.
Lentils
One of the most rewarding things to grow in your kitchen! Rinse and drain. Then do it again, as many times as you need to. Their skins make you want to cook them, a good thing in my opinion.*
Radish, mustard, sesame, nigella (kalonji,) fenugreek, coriander, and many other spices are delicious sprouted. Avoid sprouting quinoa or other chenopodia, their coats have a lot of saponins.
If your spice seeds won't sprout: chances are they have been irradiated. This process is legal in Canada for use on spices. This may be the only way you can find out if that is the case.
Warning! Never sprout and eat kidney beans raw! These beans (especially white kidney beans and all their ilk) when actively sprouting contain a hæmoaglutinating factor that can kill you.

Notes:

*If you (or your sprouting seeds) are really picky, let the water stand overnight before you use it to allow some of the volatiles to evaporate.
*Unfortunately, the environment that fosters the sprouting of your seeds is also an excellent incubator of bacteria. If the water is contaminated with pathogens, there is the possibility that you could be growing them, as well. Of course this is less likely to be a factor in your own kitchen than with purchased sprouts. Still; I find that many sprouted things taste much better parboiled, as the Asians do with moong bean sprouts. A certain 'raw' flavour disappears, and any microbes or parasitic organisms are destroyed. Of course if you are sprouting especially to take advantage of growth enzymes, such as with wheat grass, then by all means leave them raw. The conventional nutrition lore is that all of these enzymes are destroyed in the gastric area during digestion, but who are we to say what's what.

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Polenta | Hand Cut Noodles | On Hot Peppers | Pizza Dough | Steamed Rice