Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Loving Legumes ~~ Moong Beans With Veggies



In our family, Pushpa (M's SIL) prepares a lot of delicious moong dishes, which I have always enjoyed. I already posted her Moong bean khichdi. She prepares a couple of subzis with it, which I have devoured enjoying till the last bit. One version is drier while this one has equal amount of vegetables with moong. The moong is almost creamier and attains a melt in your mouth texture by the end in this dish. Serve this with a stack of rotis and some cooling yogurt / buttermilk for a hearty, healthy meal.

Ingredients required to serve generously at least six people:
1/2 cup green gram (moong beans/పెసలు)
Vegetables -1 carrot, 1 potato, 2 medium sized tomatoes, 2 medium sized onions, 10 - 15 green beans
4 -5 Serrano peppers - stems removed (or any other variety chillies can be used as needed)
A piece of ginger - 1inch by 1inch sized
1 tsp cumin and coriander powder
1.5 tsp salt
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp cumin seeds and mustard seeds each
About 2 Tbsp canola oil
The work:
Rinse the moong beans well and throw away the water used. Soak moong beans in plenty of water overnight or at least for 4 hours. later, throw away the water used to soak.
Peel carrot and potato and chop into cubes. Trim the ends of the green beans and cut into 1&1/2 inch lengths.
Place the moong beans, carrot, potato and green beans in a pressure cooker and add water as needed. Cook till you hear three whistles. In the absence of a pressure cooker, add all the ingredients with water to a pot and cook till the moong bean is cooked well enough while still holding it's shape.
In the mean while, peel the skins of the onion and ginger. Place the onions, tomatoes, ginger and chillies in a blender and grind into a fine paste. Use 1/4 c of water if needed.
Heat oil in a saute pan (non stick is the best) and add cumin and mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds start to pop and cumin seeds turn brownish, add the ground paste and turmeric powder to it. Cover the pan and keep frying the paste on low to medium flame for about 10 - 15 minutes till all the raw smell of onion - chillie disappears.
The valve pressure of the cooker would have subsided by this time. Add the cooked moong - veggies to the saute pan. Reserve the liquid used to cook them.
Stir in the cumin-coriander powder and salt. If the mixture appears thick, a little quantity of reserved water can be added.
Mix well and cook on slow flame for a couple of minutes till all the flavors are mingled.
Squeeze half a lemon, if preferred.

Any Comments?

3 comments:

  1. Love this recipe... the lemon at the end should def. give it a fresh bright taste.

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  2. never tried acurry with pesarlu...love ur recipes suma...

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