Mung Dal is a delicious healing dish. It can be adapted to any season and to every constitution.

Mung Dal is great for nourishing and easy digestible lunch or dinner. It is a great dish if you are not feeling well too.

In this blog post, I’ll provide a step-by-step guide on how to prepare this wonderful dish easily.

What Is Mung Dal And Why Is It So Good For You?

Mung dal is made from mung beans which are tiny little green beans. When the green skin is removed the yellowish bean breaks in half. This split version is used in this recipe.

The green mung beans can be made into a delicious hearty stew, which is a great nourishing dish for the winter times.

Here is the super easy preparation

Sometimes people don’t cook these beautiful dishes, such as mung dal, because they assume that the process is complicated. But it isn’t. Here is this easy-to-follow step-by-step recipe.

Step 1: Ingredients

 You need:

• 2 cups moong dal

• 8 cups water

• 1 tbsp freshly grated ginger

• Pinch of ground black pepper

• Lemon juice

• ½ tsp Salt

• any vegetables of your liking

• Fresh coriander if available

For the Masala:         

• 1 tbsp ghee or sunflower oil

• 1 tsp cumin seeds

• 1 tsp coriander seeds (ground might be best)

• ½ tsp fennel seeds

• hing (if available)

• 5-6 curry leaves

• ½ tsp turmeric powder

Step 2: Preparation

●      Soak 2 cups of yellow split mung dal for at least 2 hrs.

Ayurveda recommends for all beans to be soaked prior to preparation. This balances the naturally drying qualities of beans which tends to lead to bloating. Although mung beans are the easiest to digest, it is still best to soak them as well.

The soaking time is excellent for preparing everything else. Cut the vegetables. All vegetables that grow in the summer are excellent, particularly good are

• leafy green vegetables like spinach/chard/kale,

• asparagus,

• zucchinis,

• sweet potatoes.

Step 3: How to cook the Dal

• Wash and rinse the dal about 3 times until the water runs nearly clear.

• Put the dal in a big pot, add the water and put it to boil.
  
  (Be mindful, when the dal starts to boil, a white foam forms which can boil over easily. Best is to skim the foam off as it contributes to bloating).

• When the dal starts to boil, turn it down to cook gently, don’t cover it, as it boils over when covered.

• At this stage, you can add the grated ginger.

• All the summer vegetables cook fast, so you can add them when the dal is halfway cooked.

Time to prepare the masala:       

•  heat up the ghee/oil in a small saucepan

• when the ghee/oil is hot, add the seeds, and sauté for a short time, until you can smell their aroma. Sautéing them in hot oil is releasing the volatile oils of the seeds and with that their power.

• Add the seeds in the above order (if you use ground coriander, then add them at the end)

• If you use hing, add a tiny little bit now.

• Then add the turmeric.

• Add the curry leaves (If available, they are great to use. Their fragrance stimulates appetite and with that digestion, they lower blood sugar and have protective qualities for the liver.)

• Keep sauteing for another couple of moments,

• Pour the masala into the dal, stir everything well and boil it up again.

• When the vegetables and the dal are cooked, add salt, lemon juice and black pepper.

• When serving, you can sprinkle chopped coriander on top.

• The dal should be soupy. If it gets a little too thick, add some boiling water.

As an alternative, steam the vegetables and add them afterwards.

Serve the dal with rice or chapatis, you can also eat it with a slice of toasted sourdough bread with butter.

 Yummy.

Bringing it all together

Yellow split mung dal is easy to cook, nourishing and healing. It can be eaten at any time of the day and by everyone.

 Its tridoshic qualities mean that it is suitable for all constitutional types.

The spices and vegetables change throughout the seasons in order to adapt accordingly. Cumin, coriander, and fennel are cooling and aid digestion which makes them excellent for the summer to balance Pitta dosha.

During the autumn and winter use black mustard seeds, cinnamon, cloves, and whole black pepper in the masala, which helps to balance the cold Vata dosha.

In spring use black mustard seeds, fresh green chillies or red chilli powder, and more lemon juice to heat up the slow Kapha dosha.

Try it out and see how easy it is to make this dish. I eat as often as I can and love it for its grounding and balancing effect. My digestive system is rather delicate and is not very forgiving, but always rebalances with a couple of mung dal dishes. It is not only balancing the physical level but equally the mental level by bringing calm and clarity.

So is so unassuming and has so much to go for.

Bon appetite.