Mung Bean Dal

This is a nice dal recipe, very versatile. I used regular mung beans that I put in the pressure cooker for one minute, then turned the heat off and let sit for 10 or so minutes. Then I let the pressure off and cooked the beans as in the recipe.I used one whole LPO hot pepper (fresh).

1 1/2 C red or brown lentils, yellow or green spilt peas, or split, hulled mung beans
4 C water
2 dried chiles, whole
1/4 t turmeric
1/2 t salt

2 T ghee
1/2 t cumin seeds
1 C chopped onions
1 t grated peeled fresh ginger root
1 T fresh lemon juice
1/2-1 t garam masala
1 C chopped tomatoes

Cook the lentils, peas or beans, until tender with the water chiles, turmeric, and salt.
When the lentils/peas/beans are almost cooked, heat the ghee or oil in a small pan, add the cumin seeds, and cook for 10-15 seconds. Stir in the onions and ginger and cook until onions begin to brown, about 5-10 minutes.Then add the tomatoes and cook for another 5 minutes.
When the lentils/peas/beans are tender, remove and discard the hot peppers. Stir in the onion mixture, lemon juice, garam masala, and salt to taste. Serve, passing additional garam masala to sprinkle on top if desired.

**Not a great photo, but delicious dal.

Mung Bean Biriani

I made this several times on our farm. This is a good vegetarian entree for hungry workers and/or growing boys. My notes say "Big Pot- Hearty". I can't remember where I copied the recipe from- it has both metric/imperial and American measurements.

1/2 lb mung beans
2 med onions
4 cloves garlic
1 large potato
4 tomatoes
4 T oil
1 t turmeric
1/2 t cayenne pepper
1 t cumin
1 t coriander
1 1/4 C brown rice
sea salt
juice of 1 lemon

Put the mung beans into a saucepan with 2 1/2 C water. Cover them, bring to a boil and simmer them for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and soak the beans for 1 hour.
Finely chop the onion and garlic Scrub the potato and cut it into 1/2 dice. Scald, skin, and roughly chop the tomatoes.
Heat the oil in a saucepan on a low heat. Stir in the onions and garlic and cook them until they look transparent. Stir in the spices and cook them until the onions are soft. Drain the beans and stir them into the pan with the rice, potatoes, and tomatoes. Stir them over the heat for 5 minutes. Make the cooking liquid up with stock (total of 3 1/2 C), pour it into the pan and bring it to the boil. Cover and simmer gently for 40 minutes.

*To save time, I will soak the beans for 4 hours, then cook the beans in a pressure cooker for 9 minutes. While the beans are cooking, I'll be working on the rest of the dish and will add the beans when they are finished. This should save me at least 1 hour and 20 minutes. I'll be using canned tomatoes.

 ** I forgot to soak the beans, so I brought them up to pressure for one minute and then turned them off and let the pressure drop naturally (they were cooked through- so I think 9 minutes as I'd originally researched and said above would be way too much for these little beans). I added them into the rest of the dish at that point. I served this with plain yogurt. It was delicious. Great leftovers, too!