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Mung Daal (along with all kinds of potato concoctions), was a staple at the boarding schools that I went to in India. After years of grumbling about the food and this Daal in particular, it recently dawned on me that Mung Daal has now become a major part of my diet and I just love it! It is one of those dishes which goes great with rice, chapattis, or all by itself as a hearty soup. Mung Daal is so quick and easy to make that I can have it very often and the best part…I don’t get tired of it! Try this simple and delicious recipe…
Ingredients:
Yellow Mung Daal – 1/2 cup
Water – 2 cups
Salt – to taste
Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard Seeds – 1/2 tsp
Asofoetida(Hing) – 1 pinch
Ginger – 1/2″ pc., finely grated
Curry Leaves - 1 sprig
Green Chili – 1, slit (optional)
Lemon Juice – 1 tbsp or to taste
Cilantro – 2-3 sprigs, finely chopped for garnishing
Method:
- Wash the Mung Daal and put it in a pressure cooker.
- Add Water, Salt, Turmeric and cook until one whistle sounds.
- Remove from the stove immediatly and release the pressure by holding the cooker under a cold water faucet.
- Heat Oil in a small fry pan.
- Once the Oil is hot, add the Mustard Seeds and allow them to pop.
- Add Asofoetida.
- Add in the chopped Ginger, Green Chili and the Curry Leaves. Cook for 1 minute and add it into the Daal.
- Cook the Daal for a few minutes to let it come to a boil.
- Add Lemon Juice and Cilantro, mix well and serve.
- Enjoy with Chapatis, parathas or with rice. Serves 2.
Tips:
- If a pressure cooker is not available, the Daal can easily be cooked in a pan as well. The Pressure Cooker cuts the cooking time drastically.
- Mung Daal is quick to cook and does not need to be soaked, so no pre-planning required.
- Mung Daal is very easy to digest and an excellent source of protein.
- For a variation, add finely chopped tomatoes and onions (same time as the ginger) and notice how the taste changes.
- For anyone under the weather – this is the perfect “chicken noodle soup” for vegetarians.
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Orkut
September 9th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
Hello,
Do you recommend using the unshelled green mung dahl for this recipe?
Thank you.
[Reply]
September 9th, 2007 at 5:57 pm
You can definitely use unshelled green mung daal but the taste will be very different. It is a great variation to this recipe and you get additional fiber, too. You might have to cook the daal a little longer and also try adding a chopped tomato in with the ginger and green chili — it adds great color. Good luck!
[Reply]
September 14th, 2007 at 9:22 am
I used to call this ‘Hyderabad ki daal’ in my childhood – because I would get it for breakfast along with delicious parathas and other yummy curries – and I came to associated it with summer holidays spent in my hometown.
It was many years till I ‘grew up’ and found out it was called ‘Meethi daal’.
When you prepare it with tamarind, it becomes ‘khatti daal’ for lunch.
As I learned more about Indian cooking, I wondered at the multitude of ways you could cook something as simple and basic as daal.
[Reply]
January 17th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Thank you Hetal & Anuja for the simple yet delicious daal recipes.
[Reply]
February 20th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
I made this tonight for the fourth time and it is great. I used chicken stock instead of water and it was a nice change. Any chance for a lamb masala video?
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April 13th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Thank you Hetal and Anuja for a great veggie recipe:) I heart Indian cuisine it’s ideal for veggies. I used to think it’s way too complicated, but you made it easy and fun:) I`m going to cook mung dal for me& my boy.
[Reply]
June 7th, 2008 at 6:28 am
Do you need to use a pressure cooker? What if you do not have one? Please advise…thank you kindly.
[Reply]
June 7th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Hi Gilda,
You definitely can cook mung daal on the stove without a pressure cooker. Mung daal is one of fastest cooking daals and also one of the few which doesn’t need to be soaked.
[Reply]
June 8th, 2008 at 5:08 am
Hello again…
Ok…thank you. So, how much longer does it take? I am so new at this it isn’t funny. I am loving it…sorry for dumb questions though…
Thank you.
G
[Reply]
June 8th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Hello again G,
No question is dumb when you’re learning something new. With a pressure cooker, you can say “1 whistle”, but in a pot, you have to go by how the daal looks and feels. Mung daal tends to foam while cooking so keep the stove on medium to medium/low flame and stir frequently. You have to cook the daal until the grain is tender when you taste it. Be careful not to overcook it because it will turn into a big “clump” as it cools. Good luck!
[Reply]
June 11th, 2008 at 4:24 am
Wow…ok. I am scared! HAHAHAHAH!
But, I bought all the ingredients today…and well, tomorrow is ‘THE DAY’!!!
I will let you know either way what happens! Thanks for everything. You are very kind indeed.
Regards,
G
[Reply]
July 6th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Hi Hetal & Anuja,
Can one use both ginger & garlic for seasoning?
[Reply]
July 7th, 2008 at 5:18 am
Hi Shakta,
Yes, you definitely can use both ginger and garlic – in fact, most Indian dishes use both flavors. We use each one separately in this particular instance because you can enjoy the same mung daal in 2 different ways. And, believe me, you will be amazed to see how different each one tastes.
[Reply]
August 18th, 2008 at 2:49 am
Hi
I wanted to know how much is 2 cups of water in liters ? I am a bit confused about the water. How much water needs to be added in the pressure cooker ? Can you kindly let me know the exact proportion for the dal ?
Thanks
Arvind
[Reply]
August 18th, 2008 at 4:27 am
Hi Arvind,
We use a 8 oz cup measure as a standard for our recipes. So 2 cups of water will be .47 liters of water. I would go with 1/2 liter just because it is easy to measure. Good Luck!
[Reply]
August 29th, 2008 at 9:25 am
wooooo hooooooo. I made it and it was YUMMMMMMMMMMMY.
Thanks a million
Arvind
[Reply]
October 12th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Hi guys, you guys are fantastic – thanks for your sharing your recipes with the rest of world!
I tried to make the daal on a normal gas hob and had a couple of questions:
- I cooked for around 25 mins and it still felt the dal was not as soft as should be
- I used two cups of water as suggested but had to add more water several times. Do I need to leave the lid on?
Thanks,
A
[Reply]
May 3rd, 2009 at 6:04 am
Hey very nice blog Beautiful Amazing I will bookmark your blog and take the feeds also…
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May 5th, 2009 at 10:41 am
Hi Anuja n Hetal,
I tried this receipe, and it came out well… however i happen to add a little more salt… is there any way we can correct this.
Thank you.
[Reply]
anuja Reply:
May 7th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Hi Maria,
the 2 options you have are:
-add additional water and give it another boil but it may over-cook the daal.
-make a little more mung daal and add to this lot:)
Hope that helps!
[Reply]
May 9th, 2009 at 5:08 am
Ladies, Tried the daal..Was simple delicious.I tried the garlic variation..
Thanks
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June 10th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
mmmmmmmmmmmmm…….yummmyyyy yummmyyyyyy
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December 23rd, 2009 at 3:35 pm
hello hetal and anuja,
i have a quation regarding the asofoetida. i live in japan and i have tried searching the indian speciality stores here for it but haven’t been able to find it. is it possible to make the mung dal without asofoetida or are there any other ways to suctitute it. i used to have this dish with parathas in my home country and suddenly have a craving for it. thankyou
[Reply]
anuja Reply:
December 24th, 2009 at 3:01 am
Hi Syaz,
Asafoetida has a very distinct but a very subtle taste, if you can’t find it go ahead and make it without it! It is mainly used in cooking to help in digestion.
Enjoy the mung daal…
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March 14th, 2010 at 6:03 pm
i want join you.ilike your recipe.
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September 18th, 2010 at 6:42 am
This evening I made this recipe x 10 for a party tomorrow, and it came out absolutely delicious!! We’ll see how the guests like it tomorrow…..thanks!!
[Reply]
October 2nd, 2010 at 11:10 am
Hello,
Can I make big batches of Moong Daal and freeze it? I was wondering if it would cause it to clump after thawing and reheating?
Thanks,
Heather
[Reply]
hetal Reply:
October 4th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
Hi Heather,
Yes, you can definitely freeze mung daal. A bit of advice though…cook it a little less so that you can still see the grains. You will have better texture this way once you reheat it after freezing.
[Reply]
October 7th, 2010 at 4:21 pm
Mung Dal is one of my favorites. Thank you for this simple recipe. It turned out delicious.
We used to get this dal every morning in our boarding school. We called it ‘Morning Dal’.
[Reply]
February 1st, 2011 at 4:42 am
I watched your video and decided to make both versions. For both of them I used butter instead of oil and I added onions. For Heta’s version I omitted the asafoeteda and since I didn’t have curry leaf I substituted fenugreek leaf. For Anuja’s version I added a bell pepper and squeezed the juice out of the grated ginger, discarded the pulp, and just used the juice (no icky garlic chunks!) I served both with LOTS of cilantro and some mango chutney. My family loved it. I have a pressure cooker but I am too afraid to use it. The moong dal didn’t take very long to cook anyway. Thank you so much for your video and recipes.
[Reply]
April 9th, 2011 at 5:10 am
Great receipe Hetal & Anuja….great work with the other receipes too. I know that I can always rely on your website to try something new and still make it decent to great level.
I had a question in regards to the pressure cooker. I have tried various brands Hawkins and Prestige but all of those gives issues after some point. One of them gives a whistle every five seconds the other one gives every 20-30 mins. So I wanted to know, which brand you guys use and which is the best to use for day to day use. Thanks again for the great receipes.
[Reply]
June 6th, 2011 at 9:02 am
Hi Hetal and Anuja!
I would encourage my fellow SMTC fans to try and substitute the oil in this recipe with a generous dollop of pure Desi Ghee. It adds a whole new dimension to the daal (the delicious smell wafting out of the kitchen is just captivating). In my Rajasthani family, nothing can ever can replace desi ghee
Happy cooking, lots of love.
[Reply]
September 20th, 2011 at 5:46 pm
Would be nice to see the serving information…how many people does this serve?
[Reply]
hetal Reply:
September 22nd, 2011 at 3:07 pm
Hi Mena,
Usually, one cup of any small daal will serve 4.
[Reply]
February 8th, 2012 at 11:23 pm
hi anuja and hetal, i absolutely love your recipes,you make the traditional indian food seem so simple to cook.i’ve tried a lot of your recipes and loved the result.thanks a lot again:)
[Reply]
hetal Reply:
February 9th, 2012 at 3:16 am
Thanks Anju! Glad you’re enjoying our show!
[Reply]
February 16th, 2012 at 1:58 am
Hey Hetal & Anuja,
Thank u so much for all ur fun n easy recipes. Well,I’ve started cooking since a year now and ur website show me the curry helps me a lot…hope my cooking gets better with ur help
Best Rgds….
[Reply]
hetal Reply:
February 24th, 2012 at 7:12 pm
Thanks Mudita! All the best!
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March 15th, 2012 at 9:14 pm
Hello, I just discovered Mung Daal. What is Parathis and the other thing you can substitute for rice?
I love Indian food. My doc, Dr. Mehta told me of your site. I am anxious to try making it. I just got confused when you each did something different. One added garlic and one added cilantro. Is that the only difference. I love both. I love adding tomatoes and spinach.
Could you clear up for me. I only want vegetarian style. I do use eggs and fish and milk.
Paula K
[Reply]
hetal Reply:
March 21st, 2012 at 10:54 pm
Hi Paula,
Paratha or Chapati are Indian unleavened flatbreads. We have a video if you look in the “Breads” section of the website. The difference in the two daals was the flavorings. One used mustard seeds with ginger and the other was cumin seeds with garlic. The written recipe is on the page for you to compare if you like. You can definitely add tomatoes and spinach.
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June 16th, 2012 at 3:34 am
Great recipe! Thanks:-)
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August 5th, 2012 at 2:25 pm
Thank you for the recipe! I’ve just tried it (did the ginger version, but with tomatoes) – it turned fantastic, so flavourful! And it tasted very similar to the mung dal I used to have during my stay in South India last year. I’ll definitely try other recipes you’ve posted.
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December 9th, 2012 at 8:28 pm
After years of prodding from my wife hearing “WHY DON’T YOU COOK!” I stumbled upon your website and tried this dal. It’s a personal favorite and was really quite straight forward. I cooked the whole thing myself w/o any help and the kids (+ the wife in silent disbelief
) are lapping it up.
T H A N K Y O U!!!
I’m actually looking forward to trying some other stuff from your site ..
ps: I think I messed up on the jeera. They became black – got to be quicker with those guys!!
[Reply]
April 25th, 2013 at 2:12 am
Hi,
Thank you for sharing your recipes! I want to know if it is standard to put onions and dried red chiles in moong dal? We love adding those two ingredients but no moong dal recipe I have found has those ingredients…
[Reply]
hetal Reply:
May 8th, 2013 at 6:53 pm
Hi Taryn,
There is nothing wrong with putting onions or dried red chilies in moong daal – even if you can’t find a recipe out there that does it. I would add the dry red chili into hot oil and then saute onions in the oil before adding the cooked daal.
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