Moong Dal Tadka

the everyday yellow dal of northern India: split hulled mung simmered to a loose purée with turmeric, then finished with a tempering of cumin, garlic, and chilli crackled in hot ghee and poured over at the table

Origin: India

From the journey of Mung Bean.

Of all the pulses of the subcontinent, split hulled mung is the one that asks least and gives quickest. It needs no soaking, cooks to a purée in twenty minutes, and is classified in Ayurveda as the most digestible and most sattvic of legumes, balancing to all three doshas, which is why it is the dal cooked for the sick, for the very young, and for the very old, and the one permitted on fasting days when other pulses are not. That reputation for lightness is not merely doctrinal: mung genuinely carries less of the oligosaccharides that make other pulses hard work, and a bowl of thin moong dal water is still the first thing given to a patient coming off a fever in an Indian household. The technique that turns it from invalid food into dinner is the tadka, also called chhonk or baghar: whole spices bloomed in very hot fat and poured over the cooked dal at the last moment, so that the aromatics arrive intact and audibly rather than having been simmered into submission. The dal is cooked plain; all of its character is added in the final fifteen seconds. It is eaten with rice, with roti, and by itself from a bowl, and it is the single most frequently cooked dish in the northern Indian home.

Ingredients

Dal

200 g moong dal (split hulled yellow mung beans)
900 ml water
0.5 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp fine salt, or to taste
1 whole green chilli, slit lengthways
15 g fresh ginger, finely grated

Tadka

3 tbsp ghee (or neutral oil)
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 pinch asafoetida
4 clove garlic, thinly sliced
2 whole dried red chillies, broken
0.5 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder

To Finish

1 handful coriander leaves, chopped
0.5 whole lemon, juiced

Method

Rinse the moong dal in several changes of cold water until the water runs clear, then drain. There is no need to soak it.
Put the dal in a heavy pan with the water, turmeric, slit green chilli, and grated ginger. Bring to the boil, skim off the pale foam that rises, then simmer partly covered for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring now and then, until the grains have collapsed into a loose purée.
Whisk the cooked dal briskly for a few seconds to smooth it, then stir in the salt. Keep it hot over a very low flame whilst you make the tempering.
Heat the ghee in a small pan until it shimmers. Add the cumin seeds and let them sizzle and darken for about 10 seconds, then the asafoetida, then the sliced garlic, and fry until the garlic is pale gold at the edges.
Take the pan off the heat, add the broken dried chillies and the chilli powder, and swirl for 3 seconds only. Pour the whole tempering over the hot dal, cover for a minute, then stir through with the coriander and lemon juice and serve.

Notes

This is the plainest and most useful of the mung dals, and every household varies it. A chopped tomato added with the dal gives a tarter, redder version; a second tempering of ghee and Kashmiri chilli poured over at the table is a restaurant flourish worth copying. For moong dal chilka, use split beans with the green skin still on, which need 10 minutes longer and give a nuttier, less smooth dal. Do not substitute urad dal, which is a different species (Vigna mungo), cooks to a slippery, mucilaginous texture, and belongs to quite different dishes. Leftover dal thickens considerably in the refrigerator and should be let down with hot water when reheated; it keeps three days and freezes well. Serve with plain basmati, with roti, or thinned further as a soup for someone who is unwell, which is its oldest use.

The Gastrographer

Name: Moong Dal Tadka
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: India
Ingredients: 200 g moong dal (split hulled yellow mung beans); 900 ml water; 0.5 tsp ground turmeric; 1 tsp fine salt, or to taste; 1 whole green chilli, slit lengthways; 15 g fresh ginger, finely grated; 3 tbsp ghee (or neutral oil); 1 tsp cumin seeds; 1 pinch asafoetida; 4 clove garlic, thinly sliced; 2 whole dried red chillies, broken; 0.5 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder; 1 handful coriander leaves, chopped; 0.5 whole lemon, juiced

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control