Whole Mung Beans with Yogurt

The humble mung bean holds so many surprises, if cooked right it tastes superb, it’s low in cholesterol, good for detoxifying and high in protein. This dish can be made with or without natural yogurt, the yogurt give it a tangier flavour.

Ingredients

Serves 4 people if there is another dish to accompany.

For the vagar:

2 tbsp of sunflower oil
1 tsp of cumin seeds
1/8 tsp of hing
2 curry leaves

And the rest:

1 cup of dried whole mung beans
1 fresh tomato chopped
1 cup of natural fat free set yogurt
2 tsp of fresh masala
3 tsp of ground cumin and coriander
1/4 tsp turmeric
1-2 tsp salt

Method

Place the mung beans and chopped tomatoes in a pressure cooker with 3 cups of water (pic.3)
Cook the mung beans in the pressure cooker for about 10 minutes – allowing the cooker to release steam around 4 times (pic.4)
Carefully release the steam and open the pressure cooker to check that the mung beans are firm but cooked through
If you don’t have a pressure cooker just boil the mung and tomatoes until cooked
In a large saucepan heat the oil for the vagar
When the oil is hot add the cumin seeds, hing and curry leaves
After 15-20 seconds remove from heat
Add the yogurt and spices to the vagar, return to a medium heat and stir (pic.6)
Add the cooked mung bean and tomatoes
Next add enough water to cover the beans (pic.7)
Simmer the ingredients for 10-15 minutes on a medium heat, stirring occasionally
The mung bean should be fully soft but not mush, add more water if needed while cooking, see pic 8 which shows the final consistency of dish.

pic.1 spices

pic. 2 mung beans and tomatoes

pic.3 ready to cook

pic.4 cooked

pic.5 yogurt

pic.6 yogurt in vagar

pic.7 ready to simmer

pic.8 finished

Can be eaten on it’s own or with indian bread, roti or rice.

ninasnosh