Sabut moong dal
Preparation Time
15 minutes
Cooking Time
30 minutes
Difficulty Level
easy
Meal Type
Dinner
Serves 4
Key Ingredients
- Whole green moong (sabut moong)
About This Recipe
Sabut moong dal is the Punjabi dal of the whole bean: green moong cooked skin-on and left chunky rather than pureed, in a tomato-thickened, ghee-finished gravy. Because the whole green gram keeps its skin, this dal has more bite and more fibre than the yellow split version, and after an overnight soak it still cooks soft.
This version pressure cooks the soaked beans for 3 whistles and lets the pressure drop on its own before the beans meet the pan; that keeps them whole. The dal is built in two stages, the way Punjabi dals usually are: a first tadka of ghee, cumin, ginger, garlic, onion and tomato that the beans simmer in, and a second, smaller tadka of ghee and red chilli poured over just before serving, with lemon and coriander to finish.
For a no-onion, no-garlic version, leave the two out and drop a pinch of hing into the hot ghee with the cumin; the dal comes out lighter and slightly sharper. Consistency is a matter of taste: this recipe simmers until a spoon drawn through the pan leaves a trail. Leftover dal keeps up to two days in the fridge and thickens as it sits, so loosen it with hot water when you reheat it.
Ingredient List
Serving Size:
1x
2x
3x
To finish
- Fresh coriander leaves, chopped — 2 tbsp
- Lemon juice — 1 tbsp
Dal
- Whole green moong (sabut moong) — 1 cup
- Hot water (2.5 cups for the cooker, the rest to adjust) — 3 cups
- Salt — 1 tsp
First tadka
- Ghee (half for the first tadka, half for the second) — 2 tbsp
- Cumin Seeds — 1 tsp
- Ginger, finely chopped — 1 tsp
- Garlic cloves, chopped — 4 cloves
- Small onion, finely chopped — 1 piece
- Tomato, finely chopped — 1 piece
- Turmeric Powder — 1/2 tsp
Second tadka
- Whole dry red chillies, broken — 2 pieces
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Serving Suggestions
Serve with soft phulkas or steamed rice, a spoon of ghee on the dal, and a side of pickle, raita or sliced onion with lemon. A bowl of it over rice with a roasted papad is a full dinner. The same beans, ground into a crisp dosa, become pesarattu, and sprouted they go into a sprouts salad.
Tips for Cooking Sabut moong dal
Discard the soaking water and cook in fresh water; the dal tastes cleaner for it. Do not open the cooker early: the beans finish softening as the pressure drops on its own. Mash a spoonful of beans against the side of the pan for body, and keep a little hot water ready to loosen the dal, which thickens fast as it cools.
Chef’s Note
Judge the beans by their texture, not the whistle count; the rest of the recipe only simmers them further. Each serving starts from 50 g of dry moong and comes to about 214 kcal, 11.3 g protein and 8.5 g fibre, nearly all of it from the bean; the two tadkas add most of the fat. Salt the dal as it simmers, not after, so the beans take it in.
Per serving (approx.): 214 kcal, protein 11 g, carbs 23 g, fat 8.1 g, fibre 8.5 g. Computed from IFCT 2017 / USDA values for the listed quantities. Measures: 1 cup = 240 ml, 1 tbsp = 15 ml, 1 tsp = 5 ml.
Happy Cooking
!!
ByCOWBERRY
Apr 14, 2026
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