I've got a bunch of recipes, and nearly all of them expect me to boil water and pour that over the beansprouts, before adding those beansprouts to the rest of the dish. None of them clarify how much water needs to be poured though, which is probably also good to know as that means I may have been doing this wrong?

I've skipped that step a few times, and I haven't noticed any difference in taste or how cooked the beansprouts are once the dish is finished. Because of that, it seems like a very silly step to me, one that wastes energy, and at the same time adds an action that risks burns due to e.g. unfortunate splashing of boiling hot water. Then again, since it's so prevalent in these recipes, it seems like I'm missing something. Maybe I'm not using enough water to properly boil the beansprouts, but then again, if they needed boiling, why not just say so in the recipe and for how long...

Is there a common reason why my recipes say I have to pour boiling water over the beansprouts?

I've got a bunch of recipes, and nearly all of them expect me to boil water and pour that over the mung bean sprouts, before adding those bean sprouts to the rest of the dish. None of them clarify how much water needs to be poured though, which is probably also good to know as that means I may have been doing this wrong?

I've skipped that step a few times, and I haven't noticed any difference in taste or how cooked the bean sprouts are once the dish is finished. Because of that, it seems like a very silly step to me, one that wastes energy, and at the same time adds an action that risks burns due to e.g. unfortunate splashing of boiling hot water. Then again, since it's so prevalent in these recipes, it seems like I'm missing something. Maybe I'm not using enough water to properly boil the beansprouts, but then again, if they needed boiling, why not just say so in the recipe and for how long...

Is there a common reason why my recipes say I have to pour boiling water over the mung bean sprouts?