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Ingredients: 1 cup Mung Beans Oil 2 cloves Garlic, chopped 1/2 tsp Cumin 1/2 tsp Turmeric 1 small Green Chile, chopped 1/2 tsp Dhana Jeera Salt to Taste Lemon and Cilantro to garnish
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Directions: Sprout the beans. Sprouting mung beans is easy though it takes time and requires some planning ahead. First rinse the beans, then soak them overnight. The next day, drain the beans. We like to wrap ours in a towel, place in a colander, and set aside overnight in a warm place, often in a cooled down oven. We’ll be using a pressure cooker for the mung beans to speed up the process. You can also use an Instapot or simply the stove top, just give your self plenty of time to make sure the beans cook until tender. Warm the pressure cooker over medium high heat and add oil. When the oil has warmed, add the garlic. Stir and follow with the cumin. The seeds will sizzle in the warm oil. Next, add the sprouted mung beans, turmeric, dhana jeera, salt, and 2 tbls of water. Stir and close the pressure cooker. After 3-4 whistles, shut the heat. For the stove top, add more water and reduce heat, monitoring to make sure there is just enough water to keep the beans from burning. Before pressure cookers, my ba (grandmother) would place a stainless steel plate with some water on top of the pot while the mung cooked. The mung is cooked when tender but not soft or mushy. After the mung is cooked, add a squeeze of lemon and some chopped cilantro before serving. This dish can be eaten on its with rice or a part of a thali. |
A thali is an assortment of small dishes served as a meal that differs from region to region. My family is from Gujarat, a state in west India known for its vegetarian dishes, so many of the recipes you find on here will tend to be the Gujarati version of Indian dishes.
The typical components of a Gujarati thali are rice, a bread item like puris, a few vegetable dishes, lentil gravies, and a sweet. Here we have the curried mung beans along with Basmati rice and puris, whose recipes you can find in the recipe box. We’re going to work our way around the thali, learning about kadhi, the white gravy made from chickpeas; papdi, a crunchy snack made from rice flour; papdi saak, another Indian vegetable dish.; and sweet and orange mango rus.