Warm, richly spiced, and built for a satisfying meal, Mung Bean Dal and Pigeon Pea Stew. Toor aur Mung Dal. is a vegan, vegetarian Indian, Vegetarian main course made with dried yellow mung bean, dried pigeon peas, and water in about 50 minutes. The recipe lays out the ingredients and each cooking step clearly, so you can adjust seasoning, texture, and serving size for your own kitchen.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 10 minutes
  • Cook time: 40 minutes
  • Total time: 50 minutes
  • Yield: 2 - 3
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: Indian, Vegetarian

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup dried yellow mung bean (split mung bean, Mung Dal washed and soaked for at least an hour)
  • 1/4 cup dried pigeon peas (toor dal, or any split pea, washed and soaked for an hour)
  • 1.5-2 cups water (1.5 for a thicker consistency)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Tempering:

  • 2 teaspoons organic canola oil or any organic oil with high smoke point
  • 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds (Raee)
  • 1 teaspoon coriander powder
  • 5-6 fresh curry leaves or 1 bay leaf
  • 1 pinch asafoetida (hing optional)
  • 1/2 inch ginger finely chopped
  • 1/4 cup onion chopped
  • 1-2 Tablespoons chili garlic paste (recipe below)
  • 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
  • 1 medium tomato chopped

Method

  1. In a deep pan or pressure cooker, add oil and heat on medium
  2. Add mustard seeds and wait for them to sputter.
  3. Add asafoetida, curry leaves/bay leaf and mix. Cook for half a minute
  4. Add onions and ginger and cook until translucent.
  5. Add chili garlic paste, coriander powder and cook for a minute.
  6. Add the tomato, turmeric and cook for 2-3 minutes until tomatoes get mushy.
  7. At this point, you can add chopped up vegetables, other spices, garam masala/curry powder.
  8. Drain the lentils and add them to the pan, add salt, and water and mix well.
  9. Pressure cook for 1-2 whistle or cook covered on low for 20-30 minutes until the lentils are tender and mushy.
  10. Adjust salt, spices and water for consistency. Bring to a boil and serve.
  11. Serve hot topped with chopped cilantro leaves or red chili flakes, with Roti-Indian flatbread, Rice, dry veggie subzis or as a soup with garlic bread/pita/Naan.

Chili Garlic paste:

  1. Soak a whole dry red chili pepper in warm water for 10 minutes.
  2. With a mortar and pestle, pound 5-6 cloves of garlic with the soaked chili and a few drops of vinegar.
  3. You can also use red chili powder and make a bigger batch in a food processor.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.