Moong Daal Tadka

This moong daal tadka is my hubby’s recipe and I love it for many reasons. First of all it is probably the quickest daal to make because it is made with split moong beans. It is ready in 35 minutes. It is the kind of everyday daal for me because I can eat with some chapatis or rice as a main meal or a thinner soup. It is easy to cook in bulk and include in a meal prep plan. And of course it is super delicious and packed with fibers and protein. It can fit in perfectly to a whole food plant based diet.

It is not necessary to soak the moong beans but I prefer to soak all legumes. It doesn’t need lot of time, you can just soak while you prepare the spices and the base. After it will take only 10-15 minutes to cook. With cooking it gets a bit mushy but that’s how it is. Hubby prefers to cook in the pressure cooker but I find it unnecessary as it is ready in no time anyways. (And I hate to clean the heavy pressure cooker.)

I like my food quite spicy and hubby’s recipe is just prefect for me. The basic recipe is a one pot recipe. You can just cook the basic daal. It has all the spices to make it flavourful. If you want to level up, then do the tadka. Tadka means tempering. In this case it is the tempering of spices which brings out their full aroma. I recommend to try in this way. It takes only few extra minutes to do so.

There is curry leaf as an ingredient in the recipe. Not to be confused with the curry spice as in Europe sometimes the term is wrongly used. Curry in general means a dish with gravy. Then there is the curry or kari leaf or karipatta (kadi patta) which is the leaf of the curry tree (Murraya koenigii). I know it sounds confusing. Anyways, if you can’t find curry leaves you can add some bay leaves.

Have a little caution with the asfoetida or hing if you follow gluten free diet. The hing alone is a gluten free spice but usually it is diluted with wheat flour. You can find gluten free also with starch but in case is not available just leave it out. Your daal will still taste amazing.

The daal will thicken. I usually dilute with some extra water later as needed. You can enjoy thin and soupy or thicker as you wish. You can serve with some chapatis, rice or just plain.

Moong Daal Tadka

Hajnal This moong daal tadka is my hubby’s recipe and I love it for many reasons. First of all it is probably the quickest daal to make because it is made… Dinner Moong Daal Tadka Indian Print This

Serves: 4 Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cooking Time: 25 Minutes 25 Minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

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Ingredients

• 1½ cup split moong beans
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 1 tomato chopped
• 5 garlic cloves minced
• 2 cm ginger finely chopped
• 1 green chili (personal preference)
• 1/2 tbsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tbsp mustard seeds
• 1/4 tsp asafoetida (hing)*see notes
• 6-7 curry leaves
• 1/2 tbsp turmeric
• 1 tbsp oil
• salt to taste

Tadka (tempered spices)**

• 1 tbsp oil
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 6 curry leaves
• 1 garlic thinly sliced
• 1 chili finely chopped

 

Instructions

1. Soak the moong daal for the time you prep the rest.
2. Heat oil in a pan and add curry leaves, cumin, mustard seeds to crackle.
3. Add chili, chopped onion and asafoetida (hing). Saute until onions turn translucent.
4. Stir in the minced garlic and ginger. Saute for a minute.
5. Add chopped tomatoes and turmeric. Cook until it's a bit mushy..
6. Strain the moong beans and add to the spicy tomato gravy. Mix well.
7. Add 5 cups of water and cook for 15 minutes.
8. Add salt to taste.

Tempering the Tadka:

1. Heat oil and add cumin and mustard seeds. let them pop.
2. Add curry leaves, chili and garlic and fry until garlic slices are golden. Dont't burn the garlic as it gets bitter
3. Mix the tadka in the daal or drizzle over when you serve.

Notes

* Hing or asafoetida mostly contain gluten. Use gluten free hing or just leave it out. ** Tadka is optional. All the spices are in the daal already but I prefer a bit more spiced up. If I want a lighter daal I skip.