Thai-inspired Chickpea Salad

I got this awesome recipe from susan's blog http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2010/04/thai-inspired-chickpea-salad.html it is amazing!

1/4 cup coconut

2 tablespoons peeled and coarsely chopped ginger

2 green onions

1 teaspoon mellow white miso

1/2 cup vegetable broth

1 tablespoon sugar or agave nectar

1/4 teaspoon tamarind concentrate (or omit and add extra lime juice)

1 teaspoon soy sauce

3 cups cooked chickpeas (or canned, drained and rinsed)

2 teaspoons fresh lime juice

1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and diced

1 small jalapeno chile, stemmed, seeded and finely diced (add more or less to taste)

1/2 cup peeled and diced cucumber

1 rib celery, diced

1/2 cup fresh pineapple, cubed

salt to taste

toasted cashews (optional)
In a dry skillet, toast the coconut just until it becomes fragrant and starts to turn off-white. Stir constantly and be careful not to burn. Set aside to cool.
Once the coconut is cool, put it into the blender along with the ginger, the white parts of the green onions (roots removed!), miso, vegetable broth, sugar, tamarind concentrate, and soy sauce. Blend until well-combined. Pour into a saucepan and add the drained chickpeas. Bring to a simmer and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat, add the lime juice, and refrigerate to cool completely.
Thinly slice the green onion tops and add them, the other vegetables, and the pineapple to the chickpeas and toss well to combine. Add salt and additional lime juice to taste. Refrigerate to chill thoroughly (tastes best if allowed to chill for at least 4 hours). Serve atop greens garnished with toasted cashews.

I have to admit that I don't toast the coconut and I have yet to use a jalepeno because my kids don't like the heat. Also, I wrap it in big pieces of lettuce. So good!

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Sprouts are some of the most nutrition dense foods. All the life of the plant is contained in the seed and is brought to life in a few days by watering and draining. Here are some nutritional stats on sprouts: Contain: Vitamins A, B, C, D, E and K, Calcium, Carbohydrates, Chlorophyll, Iron, Magnesium, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Phosphorus, Potassium, Zinc, All Amino Acids, Trace Elements, and Protein: up to 35%.

Sprouts are easy to make and don't even require a special tray like I have- just a canning jar with holes poked in the lid will work fine. (They just need rinsed and drained every 12 hrs or so.) They are also very inexpensive. A tablespoon of seeds produces A LOT of sprouts. And they are easy to add to your diet when you're juicing, making salad or cooking almost anything. Don't forget sprouts go well beyond leafy greens like alf-alfa. There are beans to sprout, grasses, grains, nuts, and things like garlic and broccoli.

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