Mung Bean Curry or Green Lentil Curry is a regular one on my lunch/dinner menu. We have Chapati daily at home and this curry makes a good side dish for it. I prefer to buy the lentils or Mung Beans from Namdhari’s Fresh here in Bangalore where they usually stack fresh and neat packs of Sprouted Mung Beans.
Feels healthy, nutritious, less heavy (no milk products like cream or paneer) compared to some of the other popular curries without sacrificing much of taste – that’s how I would describe this curry/subzi. Do try it out if you have never done before and hope you will like it.
Know more about Green Lentils or Mung Beans from Sprout People. If you do not feel like trying out curry now but want to try out something quick made out of green beans, have a look at healthy salads here and here. They are real easy to make.
Green Lentil Curry or Mung Bean Curry Ingredients:
- Green Lentil Sprouts or Mung Bean Sprouts (Moong Bean Sprouts) – 1 cup
- Medium sized Onion – 1
- Medium Sized Tomato – 1
- Oil – 3 tsp
- Mustard Seeds – 1/2 tsp
- Cumin Seeds / Jeera – 1/2 tsp
- Curry Leaves – 5-6
- Turmeric Powder – 1/2 tsp
- Red Chilli Powder – 1 tsp
- Garam Masala Powder – 1/2 tsp
- Jaggery Powder – 1/2 tsp
- Roasted Bengal Gram or Chana Dal – 1 tsp
- Peanuts/Ground Nuts – 1 tsp
- Salt
- Chopped Coriander Leaves / Cilantro
Time to Prepare: 30 min
How to Make Green Lentil or Mung Bean Curry :
- Chop the Onion and Tomato into medium sized pieces; keep the two aside separately.
- Into a mixer jar, add Peanuts/Ground Nuts and roasted Bengal Gram (Chana Dal) and grind into a smooth powder. Keep aside.
- Heat Oil in a pan, add Mustard Seeds. Once the seeds splutter, add Jeera or Cumin Seeds. Wait until the Cumin Seeds crackle. Then add the Curry Leaves to the pan and fry for a minute.
- Now add the chopped Onion and Turmeric Powder and fry until Onion turns to light golden in color. Then add Tomato pieces and cook until Tomato turns soft and mushy.
- At this stage, add Green lentils or Mung Bean Sprouts and mix well with all the ingredients in the pan. Pour a cup of water to the pan and leave it to cook for 5 minutes. Make sure you do not overcook the Mung Bean Sprouts.
- Now add all the spice ingredients – Red Chilli Powder, Garam Masala Powder, Jaggery Powder, Salt and mix well. Cook for few more minutes.
- Once all the spices have mixed well with the vegetables and Mung Bean Sprouts, add the roasted Bengal Gram + Peanut Powder from step 2 to the pan and mix well with a spatula.
Transfer to a bowl and garnish with chopped Coriander Leaves / Cilantro. Now the sprouted Mung Bean Curry is ready to serve.
Serve Mung Bean Curry or Green Lentil Curry with Chapati, Jowar Roti, Plain Rice Roti etc.,
Tips:
- The Roasted Bengal Gram + Peanut Powder gives thickness to the Curry and also provides good taste.
- I like Sprouted Green Lentil or Mung Bean Curry to be a little sweeter than your normal Curry. Change Jaggery amount depending on your taste.
- By adding Turmeric Powder while frying chopped Onion pieces in Step 4, you help Onion to cook faster without changing the color.
- As I said earlier in the post, I prepare this green lentil curry quite regularly as a side-dish for Chapati.
One more superb recipe Hema…Thanks for posting. Tried it and came out well..got appreciation from everyone…:)
Will try out all curries for sure..
Nice recipe, I make a similar curry using unsprouted mung but this looks delicious too 🙂
Thank you very much for the recipe madam Hema . I tried green lentil curry it came out very well . It is easier to prepare and takes less time . I am studying bcom at Bangalore . I am new to cooking . Your recipe made everyone appreciate me for my cooking.