Bean Sprouts

No stir-fried dishes are considered complete without this ingredient, and no noodle soups taste crunchy without it. For as long as anyone can remember, bean sprouts have become indispensable to many Indonesian, Malaysian and Singapore cuisines. The sprouts come in two forms: the mung bean sprouts and the soybean sprouts. The former is smaller in size, not more than 3 millimeters long, while the latter, the tougher one, is around 6 millimeters long. Both have an unmistakably bright and perky ivory color, an indicator of the ingredient’s freshness. On the other hand, sprouts that look limp, have a distinctive sweaty, dark odor, are guaranteed the rotten ones. Even with the usual standard of preparation (that is by washing the sprouts in cold water and gently patting them dry or spinning in a salad spinner before using) the non-fresh sprouts will only waterlog the dish, and often inject unpleasant tastes to otherwise delectable dishes.