Green Moong bean
This whole mooing curry is a comfort food for a rainy or cold day which is full with protein and tastes great served with fluffy basmati rice. I love moong in all the forms, be it whole moong and even the moong sprouts. Every week a bowl of soaked moong is always on my kitchen counter, either for a curry like this, or to add to the bhel, or for the sprouts or even as breakfast.
Preparing the Moong
Take one cup of whole moong, wash it well and soak it overnight. Rinse out the water in the morning and they are ready to be cooked.
Ingredients:
1 cup of soaked moong (It would double in size, serving 4 people)
2 medium sized potatoes, cut into big cubes
2 middle sized onions, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or pressed
2 green chilis, finely chopped
1 thumb sized piece of ginger, finely grated
1/2 can tomatoes (take pelati tomatoes and not the puree, puree is too condensed)
Spices:
2 tbsp of oil
1 big pinch of asatofedita (heeng)
1 heaped tsp of cumin seeds
salt to taste
1 tsp of chili powder
1 tbsp of Kashmiri red child powder or paprika powder (don't miss this!)
2 tsp of coriander powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 heaped tsp of garam masala
1 tbsp of coconut powder (I took from maggi, but you could also take a small can of coconut milk if you like)
juice of half a lime
water between 500-700 ml
Method:
Wash and soak the moong beans overnight.
Take a big pressure cooker, add the oil to it and put it on heat
When the oil starts to smoke a bit, add the asafoetida and the cumin seeds and let the seeds crackle. Reduce the heat.
Now add the onions and let them sweat on low heat for 3-4 minutes.
Add the garlic, ginger and green chilis, roast them for about 30 seconds.
Now add all the spices (except the garam masala) mix them well and immediately add the tomatoes.
Let it cook for a minute, now add half a cup of water, mix everything well and let it cook covered for 3-4 minutes.
Now add the washed moong to the cooker and add about 500 ml of water, mix it all well and put the lid on.
Cook it for about 10-12 minutes, close the heat and let it sit until the pressure of the cooker has released.
Open the cooker, add the garam masala, the coconut powder and the lime juice, give it a good mix and taste it. Adjust the salt according to your taste. See if you find the curry a bit thick to your taste, add some WARM water to it and bring it to a boil.
Serve with warm fluffy rice, or even chapatis, pita or just any bread.
If you have leftovers, they will make a great filling for a burrito.
Happy cooking.
Tip: In this recipe we are cooking everything altogether, meaning I didn't cook the beans separately and prepare the seasoning separately. My experience is when I cooked it altogether it became like a very creamy curry and all the flavours were adapted by the moong nicely. Earlier I had also pressure cooked them first and made the seasoning separately and that way I felt the flavours were very superficial and not incorporated well into the beans. if you don't have a pressure cooker, just use any heavy bottomed pan and it might take between 20-25 minutes. But the results are the same. And I am the happiest when I don't use many dishes. Save the pots and save water kind of thing. And now-a-days save energy as well.
Comments