Khattu Mag

The name sounded so exotic and I had no idea what to expect when I came across this dish. I saw the recipe in a Sanjeev Kapoor's cookbook and my guess was leaning towards northeast Indian cooking. Surprisingly, it turns out to be a dish that is prepared commonly in Gujarati kitchens. A thick kadhi with a twist, if you can call it so. I found out from online that it is pronounced as "khaa-too-mug", khattu being sour and mag meaning mung beans.
It is relatively a quick and simple dish to put together, if you had soaked mung beans beforehand and if you own a pressure cooker. The soaking period is also less, just a couple of hours and not too long. It's like a typical Jain dish involving no onion-garlic and it is quite an easy preparation sans vegetables. The chickpea flour and the mung make this a protein rich side dish. In spite of it's simplicity, it was a lip-smacking dish for me considering that I am a sucker for kadhi kind of dishes. Even my picky daughter asked for a second serving and so this recipe is a keeper for me.

Ingredients: (4 servings)
1/2 cup green gram / mung beans
1.5 cups low fat sour yogurt
2 tbsp. besan / chickpea flour
Salt to taste
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp green chile paste
1 tsp sugar
Ingredients for tadka:
2 tsp oil, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds / methi seeds, 3 whole cloves, 1 inch piece of cinnamon, few curry leaves, and a pinch of asafoetida

Method:
1. Wash moong beans in two exchanges of water and drain. Soak them in 2 cups of fresh water for an hour or two. Drain the beans in a colander after the soaking period.
2. Cook the beans in a pressure cooker adding 1 to 1.5 cups of water. If you don't own a pressure cooker, add moong and about 2 cups of water in a sauce pan and cook on medium flame until moong is softly cooked. Add extra water if needed while cooking.
3. Add yogurt, besan, salt, ginger paste, chile paste, turmeric and sugar to a bowl. Whisk well to combine. Sometimes if besan is not whisked properly, then it forms lumps while cooking. To avoid that, you can add everything to a blender while grinding ginger and green chile. You will get a lump free, homogeneous mixture this way and it is lot easier than whisking besan. Add one more cup of water and whisk again.
4. Heat another nonstick pan and add oil. Add mustard seeds, cumin, fenugreek seeds, cloves and cinnamon. When mustard seeds start to pop, add curry leaves and asfoetida.
5. Then add the yogurt mixture from the step 2 and cook until the besan is cooked and the raw smell leaves, about 5 minutes.
6. Next add the cooked moong and cook for about 3 - 4 minutes. Turn off the stove
7. Serve hot with rotis.

 This is going to be a part of BM #35 under the theme of "Regional Cooking - Specific Course". Check what other marathoners are cooking here.

Comments