Wholesome Green Moong Dal made in an Instant Pot or a Stovetop Pressure Cooker. This is a delicious creamy lentil soup, that is so easy and quick to make in a pressure cooker. Very nutritious with lots of protein and perfect for a cold evening.
This is a North Indian style recipe for green moong dal, also known as sabut moong dal. Growing up this 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.
If you don’t have green moong dal in your pantry, check out other popular North Indian lentil soups – Chana Dal, Moong Dal Fry.
Don’t forget to check out my post for 29 Best Instant Pot Vegetarian Recipes.
How to make Green Moong Lentils in Pressure Cooker?
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.
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.
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.
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.
Enjoy this easy and delicious lentil soup.
If you like this recipe, you might like the below Indian favorites made in a pressure cooker:
Recipe Video
Green Moong Dal / Green Lentil Soup Recipe - Instant Pot & Stovetop Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 cup Green Gram Lentils (Green Moong Dal) whole, rinsed (1 cup = 250 ml)
- 1 tbsp Ghee or Oil
- 1 tsp Cumin seeds (Jeera)
- 1 Green Chili Pepper chopped (optional)
- 1/2 tbsp Ginger minced or paste
- 1/2 tbsp Garlic minced or paste
- 1 Onion medium, diced
- 2 Tomato medium, chopped
- 3 cup Water
- 1 tbsp Lemon juice
- Cilantro to garnish
Spices
- 1/4 tsp Ground Turmeric (Haldi powder)
- 1 tsp Coriander powder (Dhaniya powder)
- 1/2 tsp Cayenne or Red chili powder
- 1 tsp Garam Masala
- 1 tsp Salt
Instructions
Instant Pot Method
- Start the instant pot in SAUTE mode and heat oil in it. Add cumin seeds, green chili and saute for 30 seconds.
- Add onions, ginger and garlic. Saute for 1 minute.
- 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.
Notes
Note: Nutrition values are my best estimates. If you rely on them for your diet, use your preferred nutrition calculator.
Looks amazing. I will try this today and I think this will fall into my dietary requirements. I would like to know however, whether the 246kcal is per serving / per person or for the whole quantity.
Thanks
Hi Tony – The calories are per serving of cooked dal. Hope you enjoy it!
This recipe looks delicious and I will be cooking it today. I noticed in the list of ingredients it says to add lemon juice but in the directions it says to add lime juice. Which would you recommend?
Thank you!
About how long should NPR take? Mine has been in NPR for almost 3 hours now. Not sure what’s wrong…
hi Diana – The NPR is typically done in 20 minutes. If for some reason the pin does not drop in about 20 minutes, it is okay to release the pressure manually. Also, my guess is that the pressure is already released and pin is probably stuck, and a little nudge will make it go down. I hope you enjoy the dal!
This was the first time I have tried moong dal and wow it was lovely. Really creamy and rich which was a surprise given the simple ingredients. A new favourite! Thank you.
Do you have any suggestions to replace the green chili while in COVID quarantine? That is the only ingredient I don’t have on hand. Also- would canned diced tomatoes work?
Hi Katie – You can leave out the green chili pepper and the dal will still be delicious. To increase the spice level, you can add more red chili powder to taste. Yes, diced canned tomatoes would work well.
595 mg of sodium? Where does all the sodium come from? I see there’s only a teaspoon of salt in the recipe, and the other ingredients are very low in sodium (fresh tomatoes, not canned).
Hi Omar – This is the value provided by the nutrition calculator. Mostly these calculators are quite accurate, but please feel free to use another way to determine the nutrition content for the recipe.
Loved this recipe and so easy to follow!! Yum!!!
hey i just cooked this dal recipe by following your instructions, this is really amazing.. thanks for your cooking tips..