warming mung beans
These mung beans are my ideal. Ideal what, you ask? My ideal everything. I eat these mung beans in the morning for breakfast. If I’m fresh out of lunch ideas, I’ll heat them up again around noon. Technically, they are dinner food but by the time dinner rolls around, I’ve eaten so many mung beans that I force myself to diversify. These sprouted mung beans are high protein superfood that pack a punch. The best part? They’re stupidly simple to make.
If you want to read more about the health benefits and history of mung beans, check out this post.
It all starts with sprouting the mung beans. This might appear to be an onerous task, but I promise you it’s simpler than 1-2-3.
Sprouted Mung Beans:
*for this recipe, you’ll use the whole mung bean, not the split. They should be oval and a lovely olive green.
Start by placing whole mung beans in a glass bowl. Cover with water and let sit on counter for 8 hours or overnight.
After 8 hours, strain mung beans in a fine mesh strainer and transfer to clean bowl. Cover bowl with a clean dishcloth and leave on counter for another 12 hours or so. Beans will sprout at variable speeds depending on your home climate… if, after 12 hours, they haven’t adequately sprouted, you can keep them sitting out with the covered dish cloth for another few hours.
At this point, you’ll notice that the beans have grown small tails, like tadpoles. Ta-da! You have successfully sprouted your beans.
Warming Mung Beans:
Take those mung beans you sprouted and keep to the side.
Heat tablespoon of ghee in a pan. Once hot, add teaspoon of mustard seeds, a pinch of hing (omit if you don’t have).
Once the mustard seeds start to crack, add ¼ cup finely chopped onion.
After a couple of minutes, add ¼ tsp turmeric and 1-2 tsp chili powder
Add the whole green mung beans, give it all a good stir, and then add enough water to barely cover.
Put lid on top and simmer on medium/low. Keep checking on it until the mung beans are soft to the bite.
When it’s soft to the bite, add salt and 1 tsp date paste (Indian OGs will use jaggery), stir and eat.
