Mung bean dal is a great easy to digest pulse. Packed with protein and fiber, serve mung bean dal plain or with rice or roti for a healthy vegan and gluten free meal.
Bianca and I met by chance. My originally scheduled City Surf Class got cancelled so I took the one that she was the instructor for. Even though I would have liked to hate her for making me completely out of breath and almost feel like dying, I immediately liked her for her energy. We got talking after the class and I learned about her blog TooBu. We exchanged our numbers and met over coffee. That’s when I met the second TooBu girl, Lita. We spoke a lot over coffee and worked over a collaboration.
The TooBu girls wanted to come and see me cook two recipes, one Indian and one anything else I felt like. Since both Lita and Bianca are fitness enthusiasts, and their blog revolves around holistic living, I thought of sharing this Split Mung Bean Dal recipe with their blog followers. I also shared the coconut lime zucchini bread with them.
It was my first time ever doing a demo for anyone, but this was more of friends getting together and cooking and chatting. After the cooking session, I answered a few questions for Bianca and Lita and part of our conversation is up on the TooBu blog. You can check it out here.
I have met such interesting and motivating people in Dallas, through the blogging world, through my photography and in this case by just going out and exercising. These two ladies are an inspiration and besides their blog you can follow them on Facebook here and on Instagram (@toobugirls). They keep sharing exercise videos, and since both are trained in this field I suggest you pay close attention to what they have to share.
When I was asked to share a recipe for TooBu, I thought this moong dal recipe would be perfect. I love split Mung bean dal. These days when all I want is something light and simple, this dal is what I turn to. This was not always the case. Growing up besides kaali dal (the lighter version of Dal Makhani), I hardly ever had any other lentil variety especially the yellow varieties of Dal, including toovar and this mung bean dal. The only form I would eat split Mung bean dal was in khichdi, a recipe for which I have shared before. The reason why this particular lentil is used in Khichdi is unlike whole beans, split mung bean dal is easy for the stomach to digest. Tempered with some asafetida and turmeric, split mung bean dal is good and light for your stomach, besides providing you with the necessary protein and lots of other nutrients.
I have used the pressure cooker to make this recipe, but it can be easily made in a saucepan as well. It will take longer. Since its a split pulse with skins removed, you don’t require to soak it overnight. An hour soak is enough.
Hope you enjoy this recipe and if you make it, please do share your feedback with me here or tag me in pictures on social media.
Split Mung Bean Dal
Recipe Type: soup, dinner
Cuisine: Indian
Author: Shumaila
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Ingredients
3/4 cup split mung dal (soaked in water for an hour, and then drained)
3-3 1/2 cups water
1/2 tsp turmeric
red chili powder (optional)
Salt
1 tomato, chopped into 5-6 pieces
For the tempering:
2-3 tbsp oil or ghee
pinch of hing/asafetida
1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
1 onion, finely chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 small piece of ginger (around one inch)
3-4 green chilies, or to taste
3-4 tbsp cilantro (optional)
Instructions
Wash and soak the Mung Dal for an hour. Drain and wash again.
In a pressure cooker or a sauce pan, add the drained dal and 3 cups water, salt, red chilli powder, tomato and turmeric. If using pressure cooker, cook on medium for 1 whistle. Let the pressure release on its own. If cooking in sauce pan, cover and cook on medium low for about 30 minutes or until the dal mashes.
For the tempering, heat a saucepan. Add oil/ghee and let it heat on medium high heat.
Once hot add cumin seeds and let them sizzle.r.
Add the hing/asafetida, garlic, ginger and green chillies, cook till fragrant and garic is brown around edges.
Add the onions and cook till translucent.
Add the tadka into cooked dal, mix lightly. You can add garam masala if you like at this point but I like to keep this dal light and avoid any other masala.
You can Ggarnish with cilantro/dhania and serve hot with rice or roti.
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OTHER DAL RECIPES TO TRY (click on picture for recipe)