M’sian shares hack to grow taugeh at home
Growing taugeh in a plastic bottle is possible, as demonstrated by a Malaysian woman.
Image adapted from: Mee Ho Chew
Malaysia has entered week 3 of Movement Control Order (MCO) and it’s understandable if you’re starting to feel blue from being cooped up at home for such an extended period of time. For those with green thumbs or if you just love your bean sprouts, here’s an idea for a fun home project: growing your own taugeh.
The best part is that you don’t need any equipment besides a recycled water bottle and some bean sprouts. This Malaysian lady took only 5 days to grow enough bean sprouts for whipping up into a delicious dish, and she was generous enough to share her tips online.
Growing taugeh in a plastic bottle
Mee Ho Chew documented her process by posting a series of photos to her Facebook page on 2nd April 2020. It was subsequently met with an overwhelming response from Malaysians who were intrigued by her innovative idea, and even non-taugeh fans were sending praises her way for putting in the effort to grow her own food during MCO.
Image credit: Mee Ho Chew
The first step is to simply prepare a clean 1.25-litre water bottle by rinsing it and taking off the label. You’ll also need a handful of taugeh beans – those green little knobs with white “stem” sprouts. The beans will have to soak in roughly 1-2 cups of water for 6 hours with the cap open.
Once the 6 hours is up, you’ll need to cover the bottle’s opening with a gauze – like a coffee filter or a cheesecloth. Chew also explained that you need to place the bottle away from sunlight and add in water at night. You can pour out the excess water after.
Image credit: Mee Ho Chew
After just 1 day, you’ll see that the beans have split open to reveal a white centre. Once you’ve reached this step, the bean sprouts have already begun to grow. From there, you just have to continue watering the beans thrice a day with cold water.
Image adapted: Mee Ho Chew
Over the course of 3 days, the bean sprouts will grow surprisingly quick, as seen from Chew’s photos. They’ll also continue to take up more space in the bottle, which is why you should only do this with a large bottle. If you wish to have a bigger yield, you can opt for a large container instead.
Image credit: Mee Ho Chew
The bean sprouts are ready to be harvested by day 5 when you see that they’re about the same size as the taugeh you buy from supermarkets. Chew’s experiment gave her a yield of 600 grams, a good amount of bean sprouts that were enough for her to whip up 2 bowls of stir-fried taugeh.
Image credit: Mee Ho Chew
Growing taugeh: A new hobby during MCO
Taugeh fans, it’s your time to act. Not only will you get fresh bean sprouts, but growing them at home also means that you’ll be saving yourself from disappointment as you won’t need to compete with other shoppers at the supermarket. Whether as a side dish to your homemade chicken rice or char kway teow, these self-grown bean sprouts will do just the trick.
With Chew’s awesome new hack, we now have a new hobby and activity to kill time with before the MCO ends.
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