Mung Dall with lemon and maple syrup

Mung beans when split become Mung Dall.  You can get mung dall with the green husk or the polished one with the husk removed.  All of the versions are full of proteins.   However, all three are used in different recipes.

Today's recipe is using the polished husked Mung dall.

Ingredients:

One and a half cups Mung dall

half can crushed tomatoes

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon tumeric

3 green chillies - chopped (use less if you are not keen on hot food or just slice the chillies so  some of its flavour goes in the dall)

1 tablespoon maple syrup (sugar is fine too)

1 tablespoon lemon juice.

1 teaspoon garlic paste

1 teaspoon ginger paste

small bunch of coriander

2 tablespoons sunflower oil

1 teaspoon dried mustard seeds

1 or 2 pieces of cloves and cinnamon (optional)

pinch of  asafoetida (optional)


Cooking time: 20 -30 minutes depending on how long the dall was soaked for.

Method:

1. Soak  the mung beans for at least 2 hours but if possible longer.

2.  Heat the sunflower oil.

3.  Add the mustard seeds, cinnamon, cloves and asafoetida

4.  Once the mustard seeds and cloves stop popping, add the mung dall to the oil.

5.  Stir the mung dall so that all the beans are covered with the oil.

6.  Add the salt, tumeric, ginger, garlic and green chillies and stir.  Add in the maple syrup.( you can substitute this by using honey or sugar).

7.  Add two and half cups of water to the dall.

8.  Let the dall cook gently until it gets soft.  (should take 10-15 minutes).

9.  Once the dall softens, add the tomatoes and lemon juice and let it cook for 5 minutes.

Although we call this a dall, do not stir the dall too much as the dall then becomes like a soup. In fact, the Gujarati's do not add a lot of water and make their dall fairly dry.  They serve it with Khadhi - which is a heavenly tasting soup made from Yogurt.

Note:   If you add lemon juice or tomatoes too early to the dall, the acid in the tomatoes and lemon stops the dall from softening. 

10. Transfer the dall to the serving dish and sprinkle some coriander before serving with rice and chappatis.