I’ve had this recipe floating around my desk on a post-it for weeks now and finally remebered to post it. Basically I had beansprouts to use up and didn’t want stirfry. When I was living in Japan and you went to a restaurant you would get a cup of green tea and a little bowl of salady type stuff when you sat down. One of the usual things was this spicy beansprout salad, lovely and refreshing with a bit of a kick. I searched around online and found a few variations on it but nothing seemed quite right so I basically made it up. It worked rather well I think!
Serves 4
1 clove garlic, crushed
3/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp japanese soy sauce (kikkoman* is best)
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1/2 tsp chilli flakes**
1/4 tsp Tabasco
4 handfulls beansprouts
– Put everything aside from the beansprouts in a medium sized bowl and whisk until the salt and sugar are dissolved.
– Toss the beansprouts in the dressing so they’re nicely coated.
– Put the bowl in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes.
– Decant into small bowls as a starter or use as part of a main.
* I cook a lot of Japanese food and you need a lighter soy sauce for this, Kikkoman is the best but it has become harder to find it as some supermarkets have stopped stocking it. If you have a minute then go here and help Bring back Kikkoman! I think Waitrose do an own brand Japanese soy sauce as well as stocking Kikkoman but I don’t live particularly close to one.
**I couldn’t find the chilli flakes so just used a grindy garlic salt and chilli thing I found first. The chilli flakes are mostly for the look, most of the heat comes from the Tabasco.
Anna in the kitchen 