Green moong dal curry with brown rice is a wholesome and delicious meal. The whole green moong dal (also known as mung beans) are highly nutritious and also one of the most widely available lentil varieties. This recipe is a traditional Indian mung bean curry recipe made with whole spices and a base of onion and tomatoes.
Whole green moong dal has an earthy taste and in this recipe the flavours are enhanced by cooking with whole spices like cinnamon, bayleaf, peppercorns and cloves. Unlike yellow moong dal or moong dal chilka, each bean stays firm even after long cooking, making it ideal for curries, lentil salads and of course sprouting.
This time in our Goa vacation we explored traditional Goan cuisine — xacuti, cafreal, sannas, saansav etc. Very delicious but by the 4th day I needed some comfort food and cooked some green moong dal-chawal at the apartment we were staying at :-).
Pure bliss.
Whether it is a long day or a long travel one is coming back from, there is nothing more comforting than a warm bowl of lentil and rice. No matter where we go and how much fusion and international food we eat, after some 3-4 days, every Indian (especially North Indian) will start to crave for the familiar taste of dal or lentil curry.
For many traditional Indian lentils, one needs to find an Indian store, but the green moong dal is one of the most widely available lentils. I’ve lived in many countries and I’ve always found the mung beans (and also red lentils or lal masoor in all local supermarkets.
In India, we have a large variety and sub-varieties in lentils. Moong dal or mung bean is one such lentil. It is used as whole green, split but not skinned as well as skinned yellow mung dal.
As are the varieties so are the plenty of lentil recipes. Even a simple lentil curry recipe with each is different in taste and preparation.
Health Benefits of Moong dal/ Mung bean
- Mung bean is a rich source of protein. 100g of mung beans has 24g of proteins.
- The whole green moong dal with its skin has a lot more nutrition than skinned yellow moong dal. Along with proteins, green mung bean is rich in dietary fiber, antioxidants, and phytonutrients.
- Because of its high nutrient density, whole green mung beans help fight against many diseases including cancer, diabetes, heart diseases, and obesity.
Why should lentils be soaked before cooking?
All dried lentils cook better when soaked for 1-2 hours before cooking. Soaking lentils, pulses, and beans reduces their cooking time and also ensures that they can be easily digested and their nutrients are better absorbed in the body.
Whole lentils like green gram and black gram and other legumes like chickpeas, kidney beans etc need longer soaking times of about 6-8 hours (best overnight).
If you like this recipe, please take a moment to rate it and/or leave your thoughts in comments. It will really encourage me to keep exploring, learning and improving.
Sabut Moong Dal/ Whole green Mung Bean curry
Ingredients (1cup = 240ml; 1tbsp = 15ml; 1tsp = 5ml)
- 1 cup sabut moong dal (200g) green mung beans, soaked overnight
- 1 onion (~100g) chopped
- 2 tomatoes (~250g) puréed
- 2 cloves garlic grated
- 1 inch ginger grated
- 1 tbsp ghee/oil
- 1 pinch asafoetida
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 inch cinnamon stick
- 2 cloves
- 2 black peppercorns
- 1 bayleaf
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 2 tsp coriander powder
- Salt to taste
To garnish (optional):
- Fresh Ginger cut into slivers
- Fresh Red Chilli sliced
- Fresh mint
Instructions
- Wash the moong dal under running water and then soak in 3 cups of water for at least 4 hours (or overnight).
- Drain and add the dal to a pressure cooker. Add 3 cups of water, some salt, and ½ tsp turmeric. Close the lid and pressure cook the dals on medium-high heat for 3-4 whistles (about 10-15 mins). Remove from heat and open the cooker only after all the steam has escaped on its own. Alternately cook them in a stock pot for about half an hour until the dals are tender.
- While the dal is cooking, heat ghee/oil in a separate pan. Once the ghee is hot, add asafoetida, cumins seeds, cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns and bayleaf. Sauté for a minute.
- Add garlic, ginger, and onions. Sauté for 2-3 minutes till the onions start to turn soft and translucent. Add the tomato purée, turmeric powder, coriander powder, and salt. Mix well and cook open for another 5 minutes till the onion-tomato mix is cooked.
- Once the dal is cooked, add the onion-tomato mixture to the dal. Mix well. Cook for another couple of minutes.
- Garnish with fresh ginger, coriander leaves, and red chilies and serve hot with rice or roti.
Notes
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Yummy, this Sabut moong dal is new to me! You make it look so tasty and I can’t wait to make your recipe!! I love trying new dishes!
Thanks Elaine!
you might know it as green lentils or whole mung beans. These are the same that are used to make sprouts too. “Sabut” is a hindi word that means Whole.
love,
ashima
I have been exploring some Goan dishes and will be posting my version of chicken xacuti soon. I love all the flavors in curries and lentils are some of my favorite to pickup at my local international market. Thanks for all the tips on the varieties of lentils!
Thanks Analida for your comment and rating! 🙂 I was totally blown by the local Goan cuisine.. Will wait for your xacuti recipe so that I could try a veg version of it!
love,
ashima
i eat a lot of lentils…and will definitely have to give this one a try.
Thanks Dixya!
I’ve never tried mung beans, but I love the spices, so I’m sure I would love this.
Mung beans are one of the most versatile lentils. I cook them in so many ways and I hope you love them too 🙂
love,
ashima
we make this often. But ths one so different and yummy. Nvere tried bay leaf with lentils before.Will try this way soon.
Hey Aditi!
Aren’t lentils such a wonderful part of Indian cuisine? I love how bayleaf brings out the earthy flavours of the whole mung dal.
love,
ashima
I haven’t eaten mung beans in years. I loved them as a kid. Can’t wait to get some and try this soon.
Hey Veena!
you should definitely give them a try again! 🙂 Thanks so much for your comment and rating. Let me know if you have any questions in the recipe when you try!
love,
ashima
I love mung beans but have never eaten them in this way. This sounds like such a yummy, warm, comforting meal.
Thanks Dominique! Do try them this way.. you can pair them with rice or even serve it as a soup!
love,
ashima
You got me at dal. I’m a huge fan of lentils – any lentils actually and I gotta try this recipe soon.
Thanks Aish!
Do let me know when you try it 🙂
Terrific!
I buy moong dal / mung beans at the Indian store near me to use for sprouting, and wanted to cook some as well. The only recipes I’d seen, though, were for the split dal, and I knew it would behave differently… Now I have more options!
Hey Anne!
You should definitely try this recipe. The whole mung beans take longer to cook and hence need to be soaked for a longer time as opposed to split dals. Let me know when you try it!
love,
ashima
I’m really looking to get more into using dried beans and legumes to make healthy soups and stews. This looks perfect! Thanks for sharing a great recipe.
Thanks Christine!
You can serve this mung bean curry as a soup as well. It is very filling and perfect for a one pot meal.
love,
ashima
This looks SO authentic!! I’ve always always always wanted to make a good authentic Indian meal and this looks like the perfect one to start out with! Where can I get the sabut moong dal green mung beans and the asafoetida? Does Amazon carry them or do I need to go to an Indian grocery?
Hey Amanda,
Thanks so much for your comment and rating! You will both green mung beans and asafoetida in the Indian store but Amazon also carries them. Mung beans are available in regular grocery stores also. If you can’t find asafoetida, you can omit it. In Indian cuisine, we always add a pinch of asafoetida as it is a great digestive but such a tiny amount doesn’t change the taste so much.
Let me know if you have any questions.
love,
ashima
My fiancee is a big curry fan and I am always looking for new recipes to try, especially authentic ones like yours. I’m particularly partial to bayleaf, can’t wait to try this! Thanks for sharing it.
Thanks Jessica!
I hope he will like it as much as we do 🙂 Do let me know when you try it. Thank you so much for your rating!
love,
ashima
Truly delicious.
Thanks, Rachel!
I just made your moong dal recipe that i ate with your gluten free Jowar roti (recipe on your website) for the 1st time and it was delicious ! Very easy to make, not to spicy but very tasty :
Thank you so much for making my day ! ❤
Thank you so much, Mary!
I am so happy that you liked this recipe and the recipe for Jowar roti. Your words have made my day! and they really encourage me to continue learning and sharing my love for healthy food 🙂
That was vey nice Ashima. I deviated slightly (as I often do when cooking) and added some carrot. Normally I would put quite a bit of fresh coriander on the top but went with the mint as you suggested and it was nice. I used quite a bit more red chilli as well and ate it with some chapattis I made. Delicious. Out of interest would you put lime juice on as well? – It shows lime in the pictures but not in the recipe (?)
I’m trying to eat more vegetarian type food and indian food is wonderful for good simple recipes.
Thanks so much, Alex!
I am so glad that you “deviated”. Especially in Indian cooking, I believe a recipe is a guideline and it should be adapted to individual tastes and also feelings at the time of cooking 🙂 If you like it spicy, add more chilies; if you want to make it into a more substantial soup or even curry add more veggies and of course fresh herbs — each adds a different flavor!
You can also try with fresh dill. Thanks for asking about the lemon juice… My husband puts lemon juice on almost every curry, while I didn’t add lemon juice while cooking this dal, I usually serve lemon with the dals so if anyone would like to add on top. I will add this to the notes of the recipe. 🙂
Vegetarian food is really versatile and Indian cuisine provides so many options with simple ingredients. I am glad I could be part of your journey towards a more sustainable diet through this recipe. Please do let me know if you have any questions or if you would want any suggestions on recipes.
Thank you for sharing this delicious and simple recipe. Preparing it today. ❤
Thanks, Indra!
Do let me know how it goes 🙂 Happy Cooking!
Hi Ashima. I cooked this for dinner last night as I was wanting a good recipe to cook whole Mung beans in a pressure cooker. It turned out just great so thanks for that, however I did things a bit differently.
I cooked the dry spices in ghee then fried off the onion, ginger and garlic in the mix before adding tomato, tumeric, coriander, salt, etc and cooking the base down. I then simply added the soaked whole Mung beans, water and pressure cooked for 12 minutes. I couldn’t see how pre-cooking the beans would make a difference and I like to minimise the washing up!
By the way, whole Mung beans are not dal – dal simply means split – Moong Dal is the split and hulled version of the bean, Moong Gram (aka green gram or sabat) is the whole bean including outer casing, so it has more nutrition. Check out wikipedia if you don’t believe me! Until recently I thought dal just meant lentil stew of any kind but getting deeper into understanding these recipes has forced this enlightenment on me. I even know the difference between a pulse and a legume now 😉
Also you start the recipe instruction by saying ‘heat the ghee’ but you don’t specify in the ingredients list quantities of ghee.
Thanks again for posting the recipe.
Hello Graeme,
Thank you for your message and the detailed steps that you took. The way that you made the green gram is another way that many people cook it in India. The two common methods:
1) Boiling the moong separately and then adding to the cooked onion-tomato masala and
2) Pressure cooking the onion-tomato masala along with the moong dal in the cooker
have different results in terms of taste. I normally prefer the 1st method unless I am really short on time in which case I simply put everything together in the pressure cooker. In that case, the onions and tomatoes also get “boiled” rather than sautéed giving a different taste which is also good but I prefer the taste of the 1st one more :-). Hope that explains what difference pre-cooking the beans make.
In Hindi, we call all forms of moong bean – the green whole, the split with skin and the yellow husked without skin – “dal” which is what I mean when I call it moong dal. Dal can be cooked in as many ways across India as there are households so I wouldn’t give a generic term to the dish. Commonly yes, dal means a lentil stew but if you want to go into specifics dal is simply the dry ingredient and it goes into many recipes and not just stews. We make breads with it, we make fritters with it, we make laddus, halwas and other sweets with it. In fact, we also use dal to make traditional face packs in India. I am glad you are reading up more on the foods and are exploring more into recipes. I would love to knwo the difference between a pulse and legume!
I double-checked for ghee; it is mentioned as the 6th ingredient down the list. I’ve mentioned it as ghee/oil giving oil as an alternative for a vegan preparation. Hope it didn’t lead to any confusion 😮
Thanks so much for sharing your experience with the recipe and also your knowledge. Really appreciate your taking time for it!
Wish you a great day!
This was my first time cooking. I definitely will cook it again.
Thanks, Lu!
Lentil curries are a staple in Indian meals and I am so glad you liked it 🙂
Delish!
Thank you, Aarti!
I am glad you liked the moong dal curry recipe 🙂
Hi Ashima. i look forward to trying tis recipe. This may be a silly question… but after combining, do you remove the whole spices? or leave them… just tring to imagine coming upon a whole clove in my bowl…not something i am used too. Thanks
Hey, Chaya,
So I let the whole spices be in the curry even after cooking for the simple reason that they are too small to be removed from the curry. When eating we usually put the whole spices on the side. If you prefer to remove them, one idea is to put all the whole spices in a tiny muslin cloth bag and then remove the whole bag with spices after the curry is cooked.
Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any more question!
Hi Ashima – made this yesterday and we both really enjoyed it. Thank you!
Thanks for sharing your feedback and experience, Robert!!! 🙂 It really encourages me to keep trying and sharing!