Beansprout (taugeh) (16 August 2008)
Bean Sprout features more regularly in hawker food than in dishes. Apart from fried bean sprout with salted fish, Nyonya dishes don't usually include bean sprout as an ingredient. However, it features prominently in hawker food including
char koay teow,
koay kak, fried bihun,
hokkien mee,
pasembur to name a few. On occasion, it is also a side dish in
chicken rice. Bean sprouts are known as
taugeh in both Hokkien and Malay, while in Mandarin it is called
douyar.
Bean sprouts are germinated from mung beans (the
lek tau or green beans that is also used in Nyonya sweet broth), and a few other types of beans. The growing of bean sprouts is done under fluorescent light.
Health benefits
The goodness of bean sprouts is often unrecognized. For your information, bean sprouts are a good source of vitamin C as well as B complex vitamins. While most vegetables start to lose their vitamin content once they are picked, bean sprouts actually continue to grow and to form nutrients.