Description: Easy and fast to prepare. This is a well-known Korean appetiser. It is crunchy and very tasty. Sesame oil enhances the flavour and it goes very well with any Asian dish.
Serves: 2
Cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

• Bean sprout – steamed, 200g
• Soy sauce – 1 tablespoon
• Salt – 3 dashes
• Sesame oil – 1 tablespoon
• Spring onion – chopped, 1 teaspoon
• Garlic – pureed, 1 piece
• Sesame seeds – 1 teaspoon

Method

1. Steam the bean sprouts. Once they are cooked, pat them dry.
2. In a small bowl, mix the steamed bean sprouts with salt, soy sauce, garlic puree and sesame oil.
3. Top it up with sesame seeds and spring onion.

Nutritional Values Per Serving

Kcal	Protein	Fat	Carbs	Fibre	Sugars	Salt	Saturated Fat	Vitamin C
110.9	4.6g	8.2g	6.1g	0.9g	0.1g	1.5g	1.1g	15.6mg
5.9%	9.2%	11.7%	2.3%	3.1%	0.1%	25.0%	5.4%	39.1%

Nutritional Tips

Bean sprouts are known to stay fresh for a fairly short time in the fridge, similar to some other vegetables such as asparagus, okra or avocado. Therefore, it is better to consume them as soon as possible, ideally within a day or two after purchase. The warm temperature or humidity is ideal for the rapid growth of bacteria. So it is important to cook thoroughly (until they are boiling hot) before consuming them. Pregnant women, people aged 65 and over, those with underlying health conditions and children are not recommended to eat raw bean sprouts.

Beans sprouts contain about 30 kcal per 100g, some fibre with almost no fat and are a good source of vitamin C. They are a nice addition to your diet as they can increase the dish volume without boosting calorie content and help us feel fuller. Therefore, they are a good choice if you are following a low-fat diet or trying to lose weight. In addition, they may be beneficial to type-2 diabetes (Yao et al, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2008 Oct 8;56(19):8869-73, Yeap et al, Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology, 2012; 2012: 285430.). They are commonly coming from mung beans and soybeans. Soybean sprouts are yellow in color and slightly larger compared to mung bean sprouts and they tend to be green. They are quite versatile as well as relatively inexpensive, so you enjoy them with salads, stir-fried vegetables, soups, Korean pickles, hot pot, yakisoba or Japanese ramen noodles.

This dish is fairly low in calories due to the main ingredient being bean sprouts. However, the seasonings (soy sauce and salt) are adding quite a bit to the salt intake (25% of the recommended daily intake value). You may consider using less salt or low-sodium soy sauce. Alternatively, you may eat less salty dishes for other meals or increase your potassium intake to balance it out.