Moong ki Dal Recipe | Whole Green Mung Bean Recipe

I did not write a single recipe down and bring with me – nor from my mom, neither from my mother-in-law, when I moved to US.  I don’t know what I was thinking at that time.  May be depended too much on internet and phone, but overlooked the time zone differences when I had to call at the time of need.  So November last year I asked my mom to e-mail me recipes using Moong Dal because I was bored of (until I started adding variety to it) eating the same Toor Dal and Chana Dal (yellow lentils) every day.

Sabut Moong ki Dal

And then, I was almost teary-eyed when I read mom’s e-mail, because even between a 1 teaspoon of this and a grinding of that, I could see the love with which she took the pain to type it all out.  Because I then remembered how - many years back - I used to lose patience earlier and get annoyed why it took her one minute to search one alphabet on the keyboard. 

My mom, many years back not so skilled at typing, internet-surfing, chatting, or e-mailing, wrote me three recipes using Moong Dal: 1) savory moong dal, cooked with onion and tomato; 2) my favorite moong dal, with ghee and sugar; and 3) cooking with sprouted moong.

green gram or whole green mung bean with onions and tomatoes

I’m sharing the first one with you here today: Moong Ki Dal.  The sabut moong dal used here is also known as green gram or whole green mung bean.

This green color whole mung dal is different from the yellow color skinless mung dal used for Stuffed Moong Dal Paratha.

moong dal and rice

What you need for Moong Ki Dal

Serves 4

1 cup whole green mung bean (sabut moong dal)

¼ tsp turmeric (haldi) powder

1 tsp ginger paste or grated ginger (adrak)

2 tsp oil/ghee

1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)

1 pinch asafoetida (heeng)

1 cup chopped onion (pyaaz)

1 Tbsp garlic (lehsun) paste*

1 tsp green chili (hari mirchi) paste*

1 cup tomato (tamatar) puree/paste (grind 1-2 tomatoes until fine)

1 tsp red chili (lal mirch) powder*

2 tsp coriander-cumin (dhaniya-jeera) powder

¼ tsp garam masala [optional]

1 tsp salt*

½ tsp sugar*

* adjust all these quantities to your taste. I personally like it spicy with strong garlicky flavor.

Let’s Begin!

1.  Rinse the whole mung bean few times and choose to either soak in water for 20 minutes to 2 hours, or use right away.  Add the 1 cup rinsed mung bean + turmeric + ginger + 3 cups water in pressure cooker.  Cook on medium heat till about 3-4 whistles.  Should take about 20-25 minutes, depends.  Then switch off heat and let the steam release completely before opening the pressure cooker.  The green mung bean does not expand after soaking the way other lentils do, but exactly doubles in volume and turns brown after pressure cooking.  {Click here to learn more on how to cook dal in pressure cooker}

Whole green mung dal - before and after pressure cooking

2.  While the dal pressure cooks, now’s a good time to chop and grind your veggies if you hadn’t before.  Then heat oil in a medium wide pan on medium heat, add asafoetida + cumin seeds, let seeds pop, then add onion, sauté for a minute, add garlic + green chili, sauté till onion turns golden-brown.  Add tomato puree/paste + red chili powder + coriander-cumin powder and cook for 3-4 minutes until it changes color and looks done.  Keep stirring.  Add garam masala (if using) + salt + sugar and mix.  As you can see, I used the frozen tomato puree/paste (at home) – in times of rush, it’s very handy.

3.  If you time your dal and veggies, then adding the dal to the just-done onion-tomato mixture would be a good idea.  Otherwise switch off heat and keep the mixture aside until use.  I like a little thick and creamy moong dal, so I don’t add additional water.  But if you want, add desired amount of water to the mixture and heat up when ready.  Once it comes to a boil, add dal to the pan and mix.  I like to see whole moong instead of mashed moong, so I mix gently but until well combined.  That’s why all the spices, water, everything else were added earlier so that the moong dal does not get mashed.

Your Moong ki Dal is now ready to eat with roti and rice.

creamy whole green mung bean lentils - sabut moong ki dal

Now that my mom has become more computer-savvy after chatting with me online everyday since a year, last week I asked her to send me more recipes of food she makes (because I was missing that taste and want to cook like her), and she replied "search on internet".  Gosh, what has happened to all the motherly love these days?!  :D