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
Video
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.
This is the first time cooking dal. it was delicious,easy and healthy. Thank-you so much for these easy receipes looking forward to trying more .
Hi Cindi – So good to hear that 🙂
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!
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.
Hello Meeta.
I loved this recipe. Do you have any recipes using split whole moong dal on your blog ? Thanks.
Hema
Hi Hema – I have vegetable khichdi and Panchmel Dal recipe which use split green moong dal. Hope you enjoy them!
I simply loved the recipe! Thank you so much for sharing! My husband loved it!
Hi Shyamal – Glad to hear you both enjoyed the dal!
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!
Hi – So good to hear that. Thank you for sharing it back 🙂
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.
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.
Hi Adam – Glad you enjoyed the dal. Thank you for sharing back your feedback. Hope you recover soon!
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..
Hi Sreetapa – Thanks for sharing the changes you made. Happy to hear you enjoyed the dal.
can you add yogurt to make it more creamy? and how much?
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.
Hi meeta, if I wanted to do pot in pot rice with this would it be ok?
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.