moong dal recipe with step by step photos – this is one of the delicious dal recipe, i make with moong dal.
some people don’t like moong dal as it is little bland. but trust me this moong dal tadka is not bland and taste very good. it has the flavors of tempered cumin, garlic, garam masala and red chili powder. once you make this delicious moong dal recipe, you are not going to hate moong dal anymore.
moong dal (skinned spilt mung gram) is amongst one of the most commonly used lentils in india. there are many recipes made from mung dal – like:
- cabbage kootu – tasty south indian style recipe of cabbage and moong lentils with coconut and spices.
- moong dal fry – easy to make delicious dal fry with mung lentils, onions, tomatoes and spices.
- dhansak recipe – a vegetable and lentil preparation from the parsi cuisine.
- parippu curry – a delicious moong dal curry made with coconut and spices.
- green moong dal – homely recipe of dal made with whole green moong beans.
moong dal is easy to digest and is often given to kids as well as convalescing adults. this does not mean that you cannot have this nutritious dal. you should include lentils in your diet, including this dal.
here’s a simple moong dal recipe. this dal is extremely good with some steamed basmati rice accompanied by a side vegetable dish or raita. have some roasted papads and lemon or mango pickle also by the side. a truly comfort and satisfying meal.
i paired the moong dal with some steamed sona masoori rice and aloo methi.
how to make moong dal recipe
1. rinse ¾ cup of moong dal (spilt skinned mung lentils) in water.
2. measure and keep all the ingredients ready to add in the pressure cooker along with rinsed moong dal.
3. in a pressure cooker add 1 medium sized finely chopped onion, 1 medium sized chopped tomato and ½ inch finely chopped ginger. next add ⅓ teaspoon turmeric powder and ¼ teaspoon red chili powder in the cooker.
4. next add 3 cups water to the cooker.
5. stir well.
pressure cooking moong dal
6. pressure cook till the dal is cooked and soft.
7. once the pressure settles down, remove the lid and stir the dal.
8. if the dal looks thick, then add some water.
9. simmer the moong dal for 1-2 minutes.
10. add salt as required and stir well. keep the dal aside.
tempering for moong dal
11. measure and keep all the ingredients ready for tempering the moong dal.
12. in a small pan, heat 2 to 3 tablespoon of oil or ghee or butter.
13. first fry 1 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera).
14. next add 4 to 5 lightly crushed garlic cloves and 1 to 2 slit green chilies. fry for some seconds.
15. don’t brown the garlic. switch off the flame.
16. now add ¼ to ½ teaspoon garam masala powder, ¼ teaspoon red chili powder and 1 pinch of asafoetida (hing). switching off the flame ensures that the spice powders don’t get burned.
17. quickly mix the spice powders well with a spoon.
18. immediately pour the tempering mixture in the moong dal.
19. stir the moong dal.
20. serve moong dal hot with steamed rice or chapatis. the moong dal tastes better as it is and there is no need to garnish or add coriander leaves to it.
moong dal recipe
INGREDIENTS FOR moong dal recipe
main ingredients for moong dal
- ¾ cup moong dal (spilt skinned mung lentils)
- 1 medium size onion - finely chopped
- 1 medium size tomato - chopped
- ½ inch ginger (adrak) - finely chopped or grated
- ¼ teaspoon red chili powder (lal mirch powder)
- ⅓ teaspoon turmeric powder (haldi)
- 3 cups water
- salt as required
for tempering moong dal
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
- 4 to 5 garlic (lahsun) - crushed lightly
- ¼ or ½ teaspoon garam masala powder
- ¼ teaspoon red chili powder (lal mirch powder)
- 1 or 2 green chilli (hari mirch) - slit
- a pinch of asafoetida (hing)
- 2 to 3 tablespoon oil or ghee or butter
HOW TO MAKE moong dal recipe
pressure cooking moong dal
- in a pressure cooker take 1 medium sized finely chopped onion, 1 medium sized chopped tomato and ½ inch finely chopped ginger.
- next add ⅓ teaspoon turmeric powder, ¼ teaspoon red chili powder and 3 cups water to the cooker.
- stir well and pressure cook till the moong dal is cooked and soft.
- once the pressure settles down, remove the lid and stir the dal.
- if the dal looks thick, then add some water and simmer for 1-2 minutes. add salt and keep aside.
making moong dal
- in a small pan, heat oil or ghee or butter. first fry the cumin seeds.
- next add the garlic and green chili and fry for some seconds.
- don't brown the garlic. switch off the flame.
- now add the garam masala powder, red chili powder and asafoetida.
- switching off the flame ensures that the spice powders don't get burned.
- quickly stir and immediately pour the tempering mixture in the dal.
- stir the moong dal and serve hot moong dal with steamed rice or chapatis.
- the moong dal tastes better as it is and there is no need to garnish or add coriander leaves to it.
Excellent recipe👌
My new favorite. Exactly perfect.
This came out delicious! I used ginger garlic paste instead of fresh ginger. The dal took 18 minutes to cook on the stove with no pressure cooker. I also used the type of split moong dal with skins on and it doesn’t change a thing. Thank you for the recipe!
thanks for sharing the feedback and review on moong dal recipe. ready ginger garlic paste can be used. this moong dal recipe can be easily made with split moong dal. the taste will be as good as this one. welcome and happy cooking.
how long does one cook the daal in the pressure cooker? 10 minuets? 15? You didn’t say….
you can cook dal in a pressure cooker for about 6 to 7 minutes on a medium flame.
Can I use ginger & garlic paste instead of using the ginger n garlic separately? Hope I can pressure cook it
yes you can use ginger-garlic paste together.
I like all recipe
Thanks Deepak
Dont have a pressure cooker, so using a pot. Dal comes out a bit hard. Even though i have soaked dal in water for many hours. Any idea ?
when cooking dal in a pan or pot, it does take time to cook. try soaking overnight or for atleast 4 to 5 hours. also use fresh dal. dals which are aged take a lot of time to cook and even after cooking them there is some hardness.
Thank you for this delicious recipe Dassana,it has become a favourite for my mum. God bless you : )
Welcome Tanusha. Thanks for your best wishes and positive feedback.
I used this dal only to make khichdi but this recipe is awesome n nw I cook it very often thanks a lottttttttttttt…..
Welcome Malkeet. Nice to know this.
Hi! What can I do if I don’t have a pressure cooker?
cook the lentils along with the other ingredients, covered in a pan or pot. add water as required. you can soak the lentils for 30 minutes before cooking them.
I used to hate moong dal, to me it always meant food for a sick tummy. But fortunately, I found this recipe and I can’t thank you enough for it, Dassana. I have started preparing it frequently, sick or not.
welcome nidhi. glad to know that you liked this recipe.
Hello,
Wondering what you mean by lightly crushing garlic and slot chillies.
Helen, crush them lightly in a mortar and pestle. don’t make a paste. just crush it lightly.
Thank you 🙂
welcome helen
Hi when I try making moong dal in pressure cooker it gets lumpy and gets thick in some time after I open the pressure cooker what to do?
radhika, if the moong dal gets cooked too much,, then it becomes lumpy. so cook for less time or less number of whistles. in case the dal becomes lumpy, then add some hot water and then break the lumps with a spoon or use a hand blender to do the same.
Thank you so much
I love all recipes with detailed instructions and pictures
I really got interested after going through your recipes
today I prepared dal tadka with allo fry it tasted yummy… my friend’s too liked it.
pleased to know this thankyou so much deepthi 🙂 for your positive feedback.
i never enjoyed dals as much I do today after following your recipes. Yes you have coming back for more and more every single time….. How do you do that !!!
Thank you thank you thank you!!
welcome welcome sheetal 🙂 and thankyou so much.
My pressure cooker doesn’t have a whistle. So how many minutes should I pressure cook for? And Should I soak the beans before hand?
no need to soak the beans. pressure cook for 10 to 12 minutes.
Thanks a lot!
Simply, delicious and awesome. Thanks for sharing.
Asghar Saudi Arabia
thankyou and welcome asghar 🙂
Your recipes are really simple and the outcome really tasty. It has become an habit to refer your receipies for the regular everyday cooking too.
very pleased to know this seema 🙂 thankyou for your positive and kind words.
very helpful!!!!!!!thnks
welcome vivek 🙂
Amazing and very easy to make ! Thank you so much 🙂
welcome always nida 🙂
Can I make Moong Dal without a pressure cooker?
Yes you could make moong dal without the pressure cooker but that would take a longer time to cook the lentils. Hope this help’s you.
Very awesome dish in a very less time.
It has become a daily routine for me to visit your website
thankyou sonia 🙂 pleased to know this.
Hi Dassana,
You are my life line. Every day I refer to your websites for recipes even though I know how to prefer a particular dish. I am a big foodie and love the way to describe each and every step and the quantities you mention are just perfect. Even my sister who prepare lovely food refers to your website. Thanks a ton for making life of many of us easier and tastier. God bless you
we are very pleased to know this nandini 🙂 thankyou for your kind and encouraging words god bless you and you sister.
Hi dasanna,
All your recipes are fantastic and easy to follow. ..I simply love to try them and almost all of them hit at my place. Can you please give us the recipe of green moong dal
thanks vidhya. nice to know this. i will try to add the recipe soon.
Hi Dassana-ji, I have noticed that I write 10 times more than the other responsees – so I better be terse, and to the point …. even at the expense of my humor….
First of all, thank you for printing my letter.
I read somewhere – in your recipes, in a reply to a letter, ( Mah. Amti recipes – March 31, 2015) that you recommend throwing out the ‘wash water’ – used for say, soaking beans and dals, before cooking. I think you wrote that the soaked water ( supernatent ) should be discarded, – ‘because it contains phytates’. Here is a link Are phytates good or bad – by Dr. Andrew Weil M.D. . Dr. Weil is. supposedly, as highly respected, here in the US, as say, Dr. Deepak Chopra. I believe myself to be a hedonist, only interested in good food, irrespective of nutrition, soo I don’t read either of them or – for that matter, – any of them …..
But I do believe, that if urad dal is soaked in water for grinding into dosa or idli dough – you should reuse the water that it was soaked in because then the resulting fermentation is much more successful and faster. This is not as important in India, where there are plenty of bacteria to help , ;-o) and the ambient temperatures are relatively higher, at all times of the year – but, say, in the US, where the temperatures can be very cold – then fermentation of the dough can present a challenge. For the idli/dosa dough I have found that adding some poha, some puffed rice, one slice of bread and some methi seeds – all before the grinding – can do wonders for fermentation.
Have you used Teppals / Tirphal in your recipes ? Since I have a konkani background , I have used them sometimes, — here is a good description, with pictures .
there are a few readers of the blog who write a lot. so you have company 🙂
i agree on the point of soaking lentils or legumes in water in both the points you mentioned. when i soak rajma or chana, then i do discard the soaked water. but for idli or dosa, i use the soaked water for grinding the urad dal. because as you mentioned it helps in better fermnentation and also fermentation changes the quality of nutrients in the batter. an indian climate is very good for fermenting idli or dosa batter. i also add methi seeds, poha or cooked rice while grinding the batter. thanks for sharing the tip on bread. never tried bread. also thanks for sharing the links.
i use teppals/tirphal in usal or the goan vegetarian curries i make. i also use them while making schezwan sauce. i still have a stock of them at home 🙂
Hi Dassanaji, I tried your Mung dal recipe as above, and it came out great ! I had already mixed equal quantities of mung and masoor dal ( old, old, stock, that I had to use up – ) and pressure cooked them for 12 minutes. Unfortunately, our pressure cookers in the USA do not whistle, …. so we have to use a timer …. and do the whistling ourselves . I generally whistle the song,’Pyar kiya toh darna kya – from Mughal-E-Azam.’. ;-0)
Then I came here and read out your recipe …. so I had to fry the onions and the ubiquitous tomato in the tadka. We ate the dal with some Kali Jeera rice. In my humble opinion, the kali jeera rice – the socalled ‘pearl grained basmati rice’ — is a waste of time and money. Just my personal opinion. The wife and I ate the dal with the kali jeera rice and some chana masala, that I made yesterday – and now we’re well fed and snug as a bug in the rug. Thanks for your glorious recipes !!! Next week, I am going for Mt. Everest — I am going to try to make your khasta masala peas kachori !
welcome gary ji. your comment made us laugh. thanks for sharing positive feedback. i hope peas kachori comes out well.
I hav tried it was easy and delicious loved it. Great work looking forward to trying more of your recipes.
thanks shilpa. glad to know this.
Hi Dassana, I like your website and the variety of the recipes. Actually, I m looking for a new way how to make yellow mung dal (the tiny yellow dal) in order to find out the more delicious one. I got confused here, is this a yellow mung dal? if not, is there a recipe in your blog to call for that dal please. thank you in advance
welcome redha. this is a yellow moong dal recipe only.
Can you please provide sukhi moong dal recipe… With or without capscicum. Thanks
welcome tassy. i have added it in the requested recipes list. will try to post it soon.
Thanks for sharing the recipe. It came out very well. I had it with parathas but would try it with white rice later. Best wishes, Asghar
welcome asghar. thanks for sharing positive feedback and your experience.