Wholesome Green Moong Dal is a delicious creamy lentil soup, that is so easy and quick to make in a pressure cooker. Made with mung beans, onions, tomatoes and aromatic spices, this mung bean curry is protein-packed comforting meal with rice. Vegan & Gluten-free.
This is a North Indian style recipe for green moong dal. This dal is also known as sabut moong dal (sabot means whole) or chilka moong dal (chilka means with skin) or green gram dal or mung beans.
Growing up this dal used to be made almost every week for dinner. We always had a veggie curry and a lentil or legume, along with roti (Indian flatbread) for dinner. Some days we would have rice, but not every day. This is a very typical north indian dinner.
This dal is also popular in other parts of India. In Gujarat, it is called mag, in Tamil Nadu, it is called pachai payaru curry.
If you don't have green moong dal in your pantry, check out other popular North Indian lentil soups - Chana Dal, Moong Dal Fry, Moth Bean Curry.
Don't forget to check out my post for 29 Best Instant Pot Vegetarian Recipes.
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Is Green Moong Dal healthy?
Green Moong Dal, also called Mung beans, are high in protein and fiber, making it easier to digest and keeping us full for longer. This is why this dal is considered to help with weight loss. Each cup serving of whole moong dal contains around 15g of fiber and 14g of protein.
They are also a good source of vitamins, minerals, potassium and magnesium. They are also high in antioxidants.
Whole Moong beans are a good source of folate, which makes them great to eat during pregnancy.
Moong beans are very versatile, and can be eaten as a soup, curry or salad. So do incorporate them in your diet.
Curious about pulses used in Indian cooking? Check out my detailed guide about Indian Pulses.
Ingredients
The main ingredient for this curried mung beans recipe is dry green mung beans. These can be easily found at Indian grocery stories. In some regions, you can also find these at mainstream stores such as Whole Foods and Costco. And they are also easily available on Amazon to ship.
Other than the dal, we are mostly using pantry ingredients such as - onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic and spices.
How to make Green Moong Lentils in Instant Pot?
I do not soak these lentils. You can if you have planned well, and reduce the cooking time to 10 minutes. I usually don't plan much for lentils, as I know that I can easily and quickly cook them in the pressure cooker.
Heat ghee (oil for vegan) in the instant pot in sauté mode and add the cumin seeds. Then add green chili, onions, ginger and garlic.
Saute for about 3 minutes until the onions soften. Then add the chopped tomato and spices.
Now add in the rinsed green moong dal and water.
Pressure cook for `15 minutes. Then let the pressure release naturally.
If you are in a hurry, it is okay to open the instant pot after 15 minutes of natural pressure release too.
Add the lime juice and mix the dal well.
Garnish with cilantro and enjoy.
How to cook in Stovetop Pressure Cooker?
Follow the same process as in the video when cooking on a stovetop pressure cooker. Cook on high flame for 2 whistles and then change to medium-low flame and let it cook for another 8 minutes.
How to serve?
This Green Moong Dal pair perfectly with basmati rice. You can also pair with quinoa or cauliflower rice.
Sometimes we also like to add a bit of tempering on the dal when serving. This is the red color oil (or ghee) along with sautéed garlic you see on the top of the bowl of dal in the pics.
To make the tempering, in a small pan, heat ghee or oil. Add some cumin seeds and finely diced or sliced garlic. Cook for about 30 seconds to a minute until the garlic becomes golden in color. Then take the pan off heat and add a pinch of red chili powder. I prefer Kashmiri red chili powder, as it is not spicy.
Drizzle this tempering over the dal when serving. It adds such a beautiful pop of color!
Tips for Perfect Mung Bean Curry
Make it Vegan: Replace ghee with your favorite plant based oil to make this recipe vegan.
Add veggies or greens: If you plan to enjoy this as a soup, you can add veggies like carrot, sweet potato to celery along with the lentils before you pressure cook. Stir spinach or kale at the end to make this a hearty vegetable lentil soup.
Double the quantity: You can also double this recipe with the same cooking time. The pressure cooker will just take longer to come to pressure. This lentil also freezes well, so it is great for meal prep.
Use my Onion Tomato Bhuna Masala: You can use ½ cup of this masala and skip onion, tomato, ginger and garlic in this recipe. Do adjust the spices to your taste.
Using split green moong dal in this recipe: You can follow the same recipe, but pressure cook for only 6 minutes.
Common Questions
It is not required to soak the dal. But if you prefer, soak it for 1 hour up to overnight. Reduce the pressure cooking time to 12 minutes for soaked dal.
Leftover cooked dal can be stored in the refrigerator for 2-3 days in an airtight container. You can also freeze the dal for up to 4 months.
Transfer to the refrigerator to defrost, and then reheat in the microwave for 1-3 minutes depending on the quantity of dal.
Enjoy this easy and delicious green lentil soup.
If you like this recipe, you might like the below Indian favorites made in a pressure cooker:
Green Moong Dal (Mung Bean Curry)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup Green Gram Lentils (Green Moong Dal) whole, rinsed (1 cup = 250 ml)
- 1 tablespoon Ghee or Oil
- 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds (Jeera)
- 1 Green Chili Pepper chopped (optional)
- ½ tablespoon Ginger grated or paste
- ½ tablespoon Garlic minced or paste
- 1 cup Onion diced
- 1 cup Tomato chopped
- 3 cup Water
- 1 tablespoon Lime juice
- Cilantro to garnish
Spices
- ¼ teaspoon Ground Turmeric (Haldi powder)
- 1 teaspoon Coriander powder (Dhaniya powder)
- ½ teaspoon Red Chili powder (Mirchi powder) I used Kashmiri red chili powder
- ½ teaspoon Garam Masala
- 1 teaspoon Salt
Instructions
Instant Pot Method
- Add onions, ginger and garlic. Saute for 3 minutes.
- Add chopped tomato, spices and stir.
- Add lentils and water. Stir well. Press CANCEL and close the instant pot lid with vent in sealing position.
- Press MANUAL or Pressure Cook mode for 15 minutes. When the instant pot beeps, let the pressure release naturally (NPR).
- Open the lid and add lime juice and cilantro. Stir and green moong dal is ready to be served.
Stovetop Pressure Cooker Method
- Heat oil in the pressure cooker on medium-high flame. Add cumin seeds, green chili and saute for 30 seconds.
- Add onions, ginger and garlic. Saute for 3 minute.
- Add chopped tomato, spices and stir.
- Add lentils and water. Stir well.
- Cover the lid, turn the heat on high flame and pressure cook it until your hear two whistles. Now reduce the flame to medium and pressure cook it for another 8 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally.
- Open the lid and add lime juice and cilantro. Stir and green moong dal is ready to be served.
Video
Notes
Note: Nutrition values are my best estimates. If you rely on them for your diet, use your preferred nutrition calculator.
Jules says
Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe! I have made these lentils a few times and each and every time, they are delicious! I love that the recipe is easy to follow.
I do have a question though.... do you make this the same way if you weren't using an Instant Pot and just used a regular pot on the stove? My friend wants me to give him the recipe but he doesn't have an Instant Pot. I'm not sure how to tell him to cook it on the stove. Any suggestions/ advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Meeta Arora says
Hi Jules - Glad you enjoy this dal.
To cook on the stovetop in a pot, I would suggest to cook the dal with water and salt separately first. In a pan, add oil, cumin, onion, tomatoes and aromatics as suggested in the recipe. Then once the dal is cooked and softened, add that to the onion tomato masala.
Hema Suresh says
Hello Meeta.
I loved this recipe. Do you have any recipes using split whole moong dal on your blog ? Thanks.
Hema
Meeta Arora says
Hi Hema - I have vegetable khichdi and Panchmel Dal recipe which use split green moong dal. Hope you enjoy them!
shyamal awate says
I simply loved the recipe! Thank you so much for sharing! My husband loved it!
Meeta Arora says
Hi Shyamal - Glad to hear you both enjoyed the dal!
Suz says
I just wanted to let you know that my family likes this so much, my husband asked me to make it every week! Thank you for a great recipe!
Piping Pot Curry says
Hi - So good to hear that. Thank you for sharing it back 🙂
Nehal says
Hi do you have a large portion version of this recipe? I usually cook for 20-30 people minimum & so use tinned tomatoes. How would the proportions change in your recipe as a result? I have tried this so many times but it never quite tastes right.
Adam says
Beautiful, simple recipe! Thank you so much. I am recovering from COVID so can't taste very well but it is STILL so flavourful. I would caution to halve the salt then add to taste, I think it depends on how much liquid people add over and above the 3 cups.
Meeta Arora says
Hi Adam - Glad you enjoyed the dal. Thank you for sharing back your feedback. Hope you recover soon!
Sreetapa Biswas says
This is the second time I made it and it came out perfect. You do have to add more than 1 tsp salt and some sugar too. I did add some egg bhurji to make it Kolkata Dal Dadka. I love it..
Meeta Arora says
Hi Sreetapa - Thanks for sharing the changes you made. Happy to hear you enjoyed the dal.
abcd says
can you add yogurt to make it more creamy? and how much?
Meeta Arora says
Hello - Sure, whisk the yogurt well. Then after adding it, keep stirring the dal until it is mixed well into the dal. This is important, so the yogurt does not separate. You can also use coconut milk to make the dal creamy.
Richa says
Hi meeta, if I wanted to do pot in pot rice with this would it be ok?
Meeta Arora says
Hi Richa - Typically I do pot-in-pot white rice with any dal or curry that takes between 5-12 minutes to cook. However you can still cook the white rice along, and it will be fine. They might be a little bit softer.
Another option would be to soak the green dal for 2-3 hours before cooking, and then pressure cook for 12 minutes on high pressure with the pot-in-pot rice.