I got these mung beans at Bloomingfoods a month ago, but since I didn't know what to do with them, they were locked in a jar waiting for me to come up with an idea. I did some research on them and found out that mung beans are used in either Central and East Asian cuisines or Indian cooking. I decided to go with Indian style and make a soup. (Jen and I decided to add coconut milk at the very end, so the recipe probably became a thaindian one) I will try later the Central Asian style and make lamb stew with them.
This is a chunky soup;
I didn't smoothen it
with a hand blender,
so you should probably
chop everything finely
or grate them if possible.
1 cup mung beans
3 tbsp olive or sun flower or corn oil
1 onion, chopped finely or grated
1 carrot, grated
1 bell pepper, chopped
1/2 bunch green onions, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 can petite diced tomato or 2 tomatoes, grated
1/2 tsp minced ginger
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp crushed pepper
salt
3 cups of water
1 can coconut milk
1/2 bunch parsley (or cilantro) to garnish
-Although these are dry beans you don't need to precook them. Mung beans are really tiny (and very cute) so even if they are dry it is easy to cook them. I cooked them for 5 minutes with the pressure cooker. It would probably take at most half an hour or 45 minutes to cook them with a regular pot. Or you can soak them in water over night.
-Heat the oil in a big pot and cook onions and garlic for a couple of minutes
-Add green onions, peppers, and carrots. Stir for 5 minutes
-Add tomatoes, ginger, turmeric, curry, garam masala, cumin, mustard seeds, crushed peppers, and salt. Stir for another 5 minutes, and add mung beans and water. Cook on medium heat for 15 minutes
-Pour in coconut milk and simmer 10 more minutes.
-Garnish with parsley or cilantro. You can also squeeze a little bit of lemon juice on the soup.
This soup turned out to be a great one.
