Moong Dal and Indian Green Beans
My mom is the best Indian chef in the world.
Up until now, I’ve never expressed interest in learning – at home, delicious food was always magically on the table, I’m not a huge fan of chopping things :/, and I didn’t stand a chance against my mom’s cooking anyways!
But now that I am living on my own and need to eat something other than cookies for dinner, I decided to take a few Skype cooking lessons from my mom and aunt, and learn how to make the food of my country.
Let my Indian cooking adventures begin!
Recipe: Moong Dal
What is it?
Dal: dried lentils, split peas, or beans cooked into a thick stew. It is a delicious and comforting Indian staple, usually eaten with vegetables, rice and/or roti (a type of Indian flat bread). Dal is full of protein, perfect for all of those Indian vegetarians :).
There are many types of dal. I made Moong Dal, which is basically moong beans that have been dried and split. They are yellow in color.
Ingredients
- 1 cup moong dal
- water
- salt (to taste)
- 1/4 heaping tsp turmeric (haldi)
- 1 heaped tsp grated ginger (or 1/2 inch piece chopped)
- 1 tsp fresh lemon juice (optional)
Tarka: spices and vegetables cooked in oil to season the dal
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp cumin seed (zeera)
- 2 tbsp chopped onion
- 2 cloves chopped garlic
- ½-1 chopped tomato (I used cherry tomatoes)
- 1 tsp fresh cilantro
- salt (to taste)
Instructions
- Wash the dal well (at least 3 times), or until water is clear.
- Put dal into a pot. Add enough water so that it is about 1 ½ inches above the dal (less is more on the water) and put on a med-high flame.
- Wash, peel, and grate your ginger.
- Once it starts to simmer, add salt (to taste), haldi (turmeric), ginger, and lemon juice. Note: Dal should be boiling on med-high heat. You can add a little water here too, if needed.
- After 15 minutes, cover halfway and reduce heat – be sure to keep an eye on the dal, as it can overflow! You can also add more water if the dal is not cooked and the water is gone.
- The dal is done once it is mushy, after about 20-30 minutes.
- In a separate saucepan, make your tarka!
- Add olive oil, zeera (cumin), chopped onion, and chopped garlic. Let this mixture brown over a medium flame.
- Add ½-1 tomato, cilantro, and salt (to taste).
- Let this cook together – once the oil is separating from the mixture, it is done.
- Add tarka to dal and heat up the dal. You can add more water to the dal at this point if it is too thick.
- Enjoy with rice or roti!
- Store in the fridge. To re-heat, add a little water to dilute it, and put it on the stove or warm it in the microwave.
Preparation time: 10 minute(s)
Cooking time: 30 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 4
My rating
Recipe: Indian Green Beans
Summary: Delicious green beans with Indian spices! Unfortunately, while making this I kinda just tossed things in and hoped for the best, so my measurements are vague on this recipe…I got lucky because these were delicious!!
Ingredients
- 1 cup green beans
- some olive oil
- 1 tbsp chopped onion
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/4 tsp turmeric
- some ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground cumin
- salt (to taste)
- some red pepper
- cilantro
Instructions
- In a saucepan, add oil, onion, and cumin seeds. Let these brown on medium-high heat.
- Chop your green beans into pieces and add to the pan.
- After 5 minutes or so, add turmeric, ginger, ground cumin, salt, and red pepper.
- Stir, cover, and let this cook for 15 minutes on med-low heat.
- Garnish with cilantro.
- Enjoy!
Preparation time: 10 minute(s)
Cooking time: 20 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 2
My rating
Conclusion: Delicious, lots of chopping, and maybe I’ll get better with practice. Maybe someday to my mom’s pro status :).
Moong Dal, Indian Green Beans, TJ’s Whole Wheat Pita, and spiced yogurt.
I WANT SOME!!
uhhhh – why is this showing up as jessica?!
Maybe she wants some too 🙂