Edible Asian Garden. Rosalind Creasy

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      It is amazingly easy to sprout bean seeds, which can be a fun project for children. Purchase seeds in bulk from an Asian grocery or a health-food store, or order sprouting seeds from a mail-order nursery. When obtaining them from a nursery, make sure the seeds have not been treated with a fungicide that is applied to aid sprouting in cold soils.

      Of the several ways to sprout beans, the easiest is to put ½ cup of seeds in a clean 1-quart widemouthed mason jar and cover the top of the jar with cheesecloth tied with string. Soak the bean seeds in water overnight and drain them the next morning. Put the jar in a cool, dark place, like a closet, to sprout. Rinse the seeds with cold water 2 to 3 times a day to cool the growing sprouts and provide moisture (more often in warm weather). Drain them well each time. Repeat the process for 4 or 5 days or until the seeds have sprouted and are about 1½ inches long. Once the sprouts are ready, rinse them well to remove most of the hulls and refrigerate them. The sprouts deteriorate quickly and are best used within a day. Your mung and soy sprouts will be curlier and a little smaller than those grown commercially, but they taste the same. One word of caution: Soybean sprouts need to be cooked before they are eaten.

      How to prepare: Green soybeans can be cooked in numerous ways when fresh or allowed to mature and used as dry beans. Add raw fresh beans to raw rice and cook them together, as they cook up at the same rate.

      The great majority of white soybeans in Asia are made into soy products or consumed as sprouts. The latter use is particularly prevalent in Cantonese dishes, where they are stir-fried or used in soups. In Korea, the sprouts are used for salads (see recipe, page 78), and in a stew with pork.

      (Caution: Soy sprouts are not edible in their raw state and are always eaten cooked.) The Japanese enjoy the fresh green soybeans in a traditional fall snack (edamame) consumed with beer. The beans, pod and all (sometimes still on the stalk), are boiled in salted water and drained; then snackers shell their own, as we do peanuts in the shell (see recipe, page 82). In Japan, the beans are sometimes shelled and added raw to rice before it is cooked (see recipe, page 66).

      Adzuki are widely used in Asia for soups, but especially in desserts, and in a sweet paste for dumplings. The young pods are eaten like snow peas.

      Mung bean sprouts are one of the most widely used vegetables in stir-fries in general, in various classic Asian stir-fries with pork, and in sweet-and-sour soup.

      BEANS, FAVA

      (BROAD BEANS)

      Vicia faba

      Chinese: tsaam dou; Hindi: bakla; Japanese: sora mame

      BEANS, YARD-LONG (ASPARAGUS BEAN; CHINESE PEA)

      Vigna unguiculata spp. Sesquipedalis

      Cantonese: cheung kong tau; Mandarin: chang dou; Japanese: sasage

      PIGEON PEAS (RED GRAM, DAHL)

      Cajanus cajan

      Fava bean flowers (above), fava bean pods (below)

      Favas are cool-season beans, good for cool climates. On the other hand, yard-long beans and pigeon peas are best grown in warm climates.

      Yard-long beans produce very long, thin pods. These vining plants, which are related to black-eyed peas, grow to 10 feet. The young pods, seeds, and leaves are edible. The pod and foliage flavor is mild and sweet. There are three types of yard-long beans: the dark, thin pods with black seeds; the larger, light green one with spongy pods and red seeds; and a white-seeded type.

      Pigeon peas are shrubby perennials from Asia and Africa that are popular in east Indian cuisine. The quick-growing plants can be 9 feet tall and 6 feet wide.

      How to grow: In areas where winters don’t dip below the teens, plant fava beans in the fall. They need about 90 days of cool weather and tolerate repeated frosts. In cold-winter areas, plant favas when you plant peas. To plant, prepare the soil well and plant seeds СКАЧАТЬ