Green moong / mung beans are nature’s best offering for vegetarians. High in protein and yet easily digestible with the bonus of extra fiber makes this a super food. Some people find the soaking routine a deterrent. Where is time to plan ahead of time, most of the time! As much as I love these wonder beans, I invariably forget to soak them or sprout them. But with a recipe like this on hand, I can have mung as many times in a week as I like. Besides, Ayurveda considers Mung beans as one of the very few foods which balances all three doshas. More on Mung beans and Ayurveda here.
This is a very versatile dish that pairs superbly with rotis / puris / bread or rice. A bowl of yogurt comes handy to cool of the spicy overtones.
My wholesome lunch today – Phulka rotis with mung curry and spiced raw mango slices
Instant Green Moong / Mung Beans
Category – Side, Rice / Roti accompaniment, Vegetarian protein, Ayurvedic food
Time taken – Under 30 minutes
Makes 2 large portions, use 1 cup dry beans to make 4 generous portions
Instant Green Moong Curry
Ingredients
Method
- Place the mung beans in a pressure cooker, smaller the cooker, the better. Wash them thoroughly after checking for stones. Add two cups water to mung, close cooker, fit the whistle and keep the flame on medium-high.
- After one whistle, reduce flame to minimum until 3-4 more whistles are let out. Remove cooker from flame and let cool.
- While the beans are cooking, you can prepare the masala. In a kadai / wok, heat the oil. Splutter the cumin and mustard seeds, add a pinch of asafoetida with the flame on medium. Add the ginger, chillies, onions with a pinch of salt, saute for 5 minutes or so, until the onions are soft.
- At this point, add the tomatoes with the spices (turmeric, garam masala, subzi masala) with the remaining salt. Stir it well for 3-4 minutes until the masala comes together as a rough paste.
- Once the cooker has cooled off, release the pressure and open the lid. The mung beans must have cooked to a soft consistency and not entirely mushy. (If they are not cooked enough, then keep them back with some water for one more whistle on a medium flame) Empty the cooked mung beans into the masala. If very thick, add 1/2 cup water and boil the mung for 2 minutes along with the masalas.
- Adjust salt as per taste and remove from flame. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot with rice, rotis or bread, along with slices of lime and a bowl of yogurt.
Nandita, Nice recipe, I prepare moon curry tooo, which is very delicious,since I dont have a blog, I’ll sum it up for u.Soak Moong for 20 Mins & pressure cook with 2-3 slit green chilles, turmeric & grated ginger for 2-3 whistles.When the cooker is cool open & put it back on flame, add 1/2 tsp red chilli powder & cook for a few minutes, Add salt. Lastly add grated coconut stir & simmer for 2 -3 mins.Heat oil to temper, add mustard seeds, jeera(opt), 3-4 broken red chilles & curry leaves. Add this to the moong beans. Simmer for 2-3 mins. DOne.Nandita try this its an awesome curry goes well with chapathi/rotis as well as puttu.
The above curry I described should be thick but not watery. Adjust consistency as required.
I love the color and any dish Moong dish N!! Love your recipe,thanks:)Have a great weekend and thanks for the blog roll comment on FH/me!!HeHe!!
Instant things catch my eye instantly – so this will be cooking in my kitchen soon. It really is the time for sprouts and such things – winter veggies gone, and the summer ones not quite here yet!Just yesterday I made sprouted moTh (matki) with green beans; today some of those sprouts are in the salad.I have a favourite recipe for moong dal that my naani used to make…mean to post it. Cooked split moong simmered with sonth, cinnamon, garam masala and ghee. No tadka. Great with rice!
U mean I can make moong dal on the spur o’ the moment?! I guess I’d still plan out the soaking part since I like em sprouts. I love this recipe for Mujadarah from Nupur’s blog: http://onehotstove.blogspot.com/2006/06/jihva-for-dal-mujadarah.html. It hits the spot, every time. And there’s one more fave recipe- fried lentil patties (spotted at rediff- can’t find the link now). U basically soak-n-grind, say a cup of moong. Add a generous hand of saunf, chopped onions, jeera and fry em. Yummy-o yum!
Nandita,Can I join u for lunch? I love mung curry, has been my fav since a long long time..I end eating an extra roti every time mom prepares this..Nice recipe and photos:)
Hi Your food blog looks great and you have some lovely recipes, I will be back to visit you.fromJeena xx visit jeenas blog for healthy recipes updated daily !
amazing pic, nandita! there’s something about eating in a steel thali! I make mine the same way with the addition of garlic. I also sprout it, tadka of rai+jeera+green chili+curry leaf+hing. Add lemon juice and chat masala.Enjoy!
hi NanditaThe second pic of the Thali looks so lovelyGreat recipe…I have a microwave version, shall post it some time
Nandita,great recipe and pictures. Moong is so healthy and nutritious and very light also. Totally delish!
Happened upon your blog. I have a similar recipe I came up with sometime back when I was looking for something to cook with chappathis. I don’t use garam masala here and you can substitute tomato puree for tomatoes to get a slightly “wet” subzi.
Hi Nandita..Chanced upon this recipe when my fridge was as bare as it could get. There were pre-soaked moong sprouts and that’s about it. Tried it with some variations- didn’t have fresh ginger, so used ginger paste, had run out of green chillies, so used red chilli powder. Used a bit of coconut milk because it was there. Didn’t even have tomatoes, but had some tomato puree so used that. But it tasted great! Keep blogging! Love healthy recipes.
Discovered your blog today and find it awesome! Hope to go over all the great stuff you have here over the next several weeks.
It’s hard to look at the picture and not wonder why they cannot step out of the blog and onto my plate :)The pictures couldn’t get any better.
Aruna thanks for taking the time to share your recipe.Asha-So you noticed huh! Glad you liked it!Anita- when’s ur nani’s next recipe out? I do make matki often too – maharashtrian style!Shvetha – Your selections sound good, I too am a fan of one mujadarah recipe from Orangette-the blogSwapna – you are most welcome, I’d love some company for lunchJeena, Richa, Musical, Aparna, Sandeepa – thanks – S, shall look forward to your Micro-recipeSridevi-thanks a lot for that encouragementShantanu- welcome aboard and thanks for your very sweet compliments, look forward to having you on my blog oftenAnil-COming for a wonderful photographer like you, it means hell of a lot
beautiful picture, nandita. it looks so appetising.
I only used to make pesarattu with mung beans. This looks waay yummier!
What a delicious photo! It looks so warm and soothing.
I love moong dal and really chuffed to hear about it balancing all three dishas. Ayurveda’s my big thing at the moment.Do u use whole moong? Or the split, huskless variety?
Whole moong Mallika, the green whole mung beans
Love this recipe, always looking for more daal recipes to add variety to our diet.
Wow, nice work Nandita..I love it, and your display. Super work. More power to Tamils…Shameem
Hi,I enjoyed reading your blog. 🙂 I make this dish too… just that being lazy as I am, I make the masala in a pressure pan and add the washed beans and cook them all together. The dish turns out just fine.
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This recipe is fabulous! I’ve made it twice in the last couple of weeks. My friends loved it too! My pressure cooker doesn’t whistle, so I just cooked the moong beans for 10 minutes at high pressure.
Nandita, tried this instant moong curry..loved it with chapathi…i’ve put a picture in my blog..
I tried this recipe for the first time and it came out awesome !!! Thank you so much!