Wholesome Green Moong Dal is a delicious creamy lentil soup that is so easy and quick to make in a pressure cooker. This mung bean curry is a protein-packed, comforting meal with rice made with mung beans, onions, tomatoes, and aromatic spices. 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), 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, lentil or legume, and 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, and Moth Bean Curry.
Don’t forget to check out my post for 29 Best Instant Pot Vegetarian Recipes.
Table of Contents
Watch How to Make Green Moong Dal / Mung Bean Curry
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 versatile and can be eaten as soup, curry, or salad. So, do incorporate them into 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 bean recipe is dry green mung beans. These can be easily found in Indian grocery stories. You can also find these in some regions at mainstream stores such as Whole Foods and Costco. And they are also easily available on Amazon to ship.
Other than the dal, we mostly use 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. If you have planned well, you can reduce the cooking time to 10 minutes. I usually don’t plan much for lentils, as I know 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 also okay to open the instant pot after 15 minutes of natural pressure release.
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 pairs perfectly with basmati rice. You can also pair it with quinoa or cauliflower rice. Pair with kachumber salad and raita.
Sometimes, we also like to add a bit of tempering to the dal when serving. This is the red color oil (or ghee) along with the 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 the 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, add veggies like carrots and 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 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 1/2 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 an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. You can also freeze the dal for up to 4 months.
Transfer to the refrigerator to defrost, 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 Lentil 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)
- 1/2 tablespoon Ginger, grated or paste
- 1/2 tablespoon Garlic, minced or paste
- 1 cup Onion, diced
- 1 cup Tomato, chopped
- 3 cup Water
- 1 tablespoon Lime juice
- Cilantro, to garnish
Spices
- 1/4 teaspoon Ground Turmeric (Haldi powder)
- 1 teaspoon Coriander powder (Dhaniya powder)
- 1/2 teaspoon Red Chili powder (Mirchi powder), I used Kashmiri red chili powder
- 1/2 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.
Absolutely love this recipe! I followed it (almost) exactly…I added a tsp of curry powder and only used split mung beans. Kids loved it, hubby loved it and I did too!! I did pressure cook for 4 minutes and NR, it came out perfect!
Happy to hear you enjoyed the Dal. 4 mins is perfect for split lentils. Thank you for sharing your review 🙂
It’s awesome. Finger licking good ???
Hey Urvashi – So glad to hear you enjoyed the moong dal. Thank you for sharing your feedback!
If I want to add 2 carrots chopped and 2 celery chopped, how much more water should I add and how much more cooking time? Can I also add some chicken broth in place of the water for flavor? Thanks!
Hey Vee – Yes, you can add the veggies along with the lentils. Chicken broth would be great too. You don’t need to add any extra liquid. I add veggies and broth in the Brown Lentil Soup recipe, you can check it out for reference.
Just used this recipe with a mix of lentils and beans and it was delicious. I doubled the time to cook them and added chopped celery. Will definitely be making it again.
Hey Archana – Glad to hear you enjoyed the dal. Great variation and perfect timing of 30 minutes for the added beans.
This looks good, but I am confused. As a non-Indian, I know green moong dal as mung bean and a different legume entirely from green (actually brown in color) lentils. Lentils are very quick cooking, but I am very less familiar with mung beans. Are they really interchangeable?
Hey Michelle – There are so many different lentils, and frankly even I have not tried all of them 🙂 There is green moong dal, which looks like small green balls used in this recipe. And there is brown masoor dal, these are brown and more like flattened balls. You could use these both interchangeably while cooking. The good thing is these lentils have different flavors, even if you prepare them the same way (more variety for us :-)). In case the lentils are split, the cooking time reduces to 6-8 minutes. Here is a brown lentil soup I have shared – https://pipingpotcurry.com/brown-lentil-soup-pressure-cooker/
I tried it today, and had them pre-soaked. It was delicious. Thanks for another easy recipe.
Hey Namita – Glad you enjoyed the Moong Dal recipe 🙂
Yummy recipe with a good balance of spices. I did soak the lentils and kept the original cooking time, which I thought gave a good texture. I do prefer beans and lentils to be on the softer side rather than al dente. Thanks for another easy and tasty weeknight staple!
Hey Vee – Thanks for sharing your review. Glad to hear you enjoyed the lentils 🙂
Can you use any kind of canned tomatoes instead of fresh for this recipe? Thanks!
Sure, you can use 1 cup diced canned tomatoes in place of fresh in this recipe. Hope you enjoy it!
Tried this recipe and the dal came out hard and crunchy. I did not soak them beforehand but you mentioned that you usually don’t. Any thoughts on what could have gone wrong?
Hi Bansi – I am not sure what could have been the issue. Sometimes the lentils could be old and they take longer to cook. You could cook for longer and try again. I usually don’t soak for green moong dal, but next time you can try soaking them and see how long they take to cook.
Just tried the recipe and did manual high pressure 20 minutes (instead of 15) and did natural release and it worked out well. It was super tasty and just the right consistency. Maybe that would work .
Hey Nayomi – Absolutely, 20 minutes works too for this recipe. Glad it worked out well. Thank you for sharing your review 🙂
Is the cooking time the same if i’m cutting the recipe in half?
Hey Milly – Yes, the cooking time will remain the same. The ip will just take less time to come to pressure. Hope you enjoy it!