Moong Beans or Gujarati Mag

Make this dish with whole green moong beans called Moong dal or Mag in Gujarati. This delicious simple dish is has Indian flavors, spices and garnish it with cilantro and lemon juice to add nice brightness to the dish.

What’s more important it’s a very easy quick meal to prepare in Instant pot or stove top. I prefer to use pressure cooker.

Firstly, this is one recipe you should add to your meal plan if you love simple healthy dishes. Secondly, it prepared with pantry staples with base of aromatics like onions, garlic, and tomatoes. Indian dishes are incomplete without spices.

Gujarati families make moong on Wednesdays, and I still do not know the actual scientific reasoning behind it. But the fun fact, when I struggle with what to cook for dinner and if it happens to be Wednesday- its moong day at home. Lol. Beside that no more thinking on what to cook or what to eat.

Moreover, moong need very little time to soak and are easy to cook. You can make it in a pot, pressure cooker or in Instant pot.

Furthermore, there is another moong recipe very similar to this one, but it has yogurt in it. It delicious but not vegan. Someday, I will share it.

Let’s talk about the one pot wonder that this moong recipe is.

I use garlic, onions, tomatoes, and chilies in this recipe. For dry spices, I have used red chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander- cumin powder, and garam masala.

One thing I add that many people do not add is peanuts. Trust me, they taste so good in here. I have no idea where I learnt to do so, as my mom never adds peanuts.

Once the dal is ready, just add some cilantro and squeeze some lemon juice. It brings all the flavors together.

They are two ways to make this dish, you can either boil the moong beans before and then add them to sautéed veggies and spice mix. Or add raw, soaked beans in sautéed veggie mix and then boil it al together. The proportion for water and everything stays same. If you have any questions about the process to use any of the methods I have shared, please let me know in the comments.

Sometimes, people tend to get confused about different moong bean varieties. Moong beans are the same thing spelled as mung beans. They are eaten in many other cultures like Korean, Chinese etc. In India, there is whole green moong, then there is split green moong and yellow split moong where the skin is removed and so they are yellow in color. The skin in the whole moong or split green moong adds fiber to the dish. If you like moong, try this dal recipe.

I hope you try this recipe and add it to your rotation of foods.

Print Recipe

Moong Beans or Gujarati Mag

Moong dal or Mag in Gujarati is a healthy vegan dish made from green whole moong beans. This delicious simple dish is packed with Indian flavors, made with spices and garnished with cilantro and lemon juice adds nice brightness to the dish.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: Green whole moong beans, Gujarati Mag, moong beans, moong dal, mung dal

Servings: 3 – 4 serving

Author: Devangi Raval

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup green moon beans dried whole
• 1/4 cup peanuts
• 1/2 cup onions chopped
• 1/2 cup tomatoes chopped
• 1 green chili chopped
• 2-3 garlic cloves grated
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 3/4 tsp red chili powder
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 3/4 tsp coriander-cumin powder
• salt to taste
• cilantro for garnish
• 1 small Lemon

Instructions

• Rinse and soak green moong beans for at least 2 hours. Drain the water and transfer the moong beans to pressure cooker along with peanuts and cook for 3-4 whistles with 1 1/2 cups of water. If you are using a pot, cook with 2-2 1/2 cups of water or until the beans are soft. Let the pressure cooker cool down.
• Meanwhile, in a pre-heated pan take some oil, as the oil becomes hot add the cumin seeds. Once cumin seeds splutter, add garlic, green chili and onions and saute them until them become translucent and soft.
• Add tomatoes and let them cook down a little bit.
• Add spices like red chili powder, turmeric powder, garam masala, coriander-cumin powder, salt and add the boiled moong beans along with the water. I do not throw away the water. If it has no water left while boiling or steaming them. Then add 1/2 cup or more to your liking.
• Let it simmer and come to a perfect consistency. It thickens as it cools down too.
• Garnish with chopped cilantro and squeeze some lemon juice on top while serving.

Notes

 

My husband’s family adds tiny bit of jaggery sometimes. If you like slight sweetness you can add 1/2 tsp sugar or 1 tsp jaggery.
For instant pot- start with step number 2 on saute mode – and add soaked moong beans directly and change to high pressure cook mode for 15 mins with 1 cup water. NPR.

 

Did you try this recipe?

Tag @pistachiodoughnut on Instagram and hashtag #pistachiodoughnutrecipes

XO, Devangi