Khatta Moong dish is made with whole green moong beans called Moong dal or Mag in Gujarati. This delicious simple and quick dish has sour and creamy flavor from yogurt balanced with slight sweetness. It has spices and is garnished 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, its prepared with pantry staples with base of aromatics like onions, garlic etc. Indian dishes are incomplete without spices. Moong beans are healthy, easy to cook, and they are easy in digestion too unlike other beans.
Moreover, kids also enjoy moong beans. This recipe has a base of besan (Chickpea flour) and yogurt which makes it so creamy and adds nice nuttiness to the dish. Good way to add some protein to the a vegetarian dish.
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. Besides 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 dal recipe very similar to this one already shared on the blog. It delicious.
Let’s talk about the one pot wonder that this moong recipe is.
I use garlic, onions, and green chilies in this recipe. For dry spices, I have used red chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander- cumin powder, and garam masala.
In oil cumin tadka is used, and then we sauté the onions, garlic and green chilies. Followed by we add a mix of besan and yogurt.
Once the dal is ready, just add some cilantro and squeeze some lemon juice. It brings all the flavors together.
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, also try this dal recipe.
I hope you try this recipe and add it to your rotation of foods.
Khatta Moong Dal
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup green moong beans dried whole
- 1/4 cup yogurt plain Preferably Greek
- 1 ½ tbsp besan flour chickpea flour
- 1/3 cup onions finely chopped
- 3-4 garlic gloves grated
- 1 long green chili chopped
- 2 tbsp oil or ghee
- 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
- 1 tsp jaggery or brown sugar optional
- 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, cook for 3-4 whistles with 1 1/2 cups of water. If you are using a pot, cook with 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 sauté them until them become translucent and soft.
- Whisk yogurt and besan in a separate bowl and add some water to it about ½ cup. Make sure there are no lumps of flour. Add this mixture to the pan.
- 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, 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 because of besan. Add jaggery if you are planning to use some. Turn it off.
- Garnish with chopped cilantro and squeeze some lemon juice on top while serving. Serve it with rice or chapati.
