Green Moong Dal / Mung Beans - Instant Pot & Stovetop

Whole Green Moong Dal (Hesarukalu Palya in Kannada) is a simple high protein, delicious curry recipe made with green lentils (mung beans) in an Instant Pot or a Stovetop pressure cooker that can be served along with roti's, chapatis, or even rice.

This is a North Karnataka style recipe for green moong dal, also known as Hesarukalu Palya (Hesarukalu means moong bean and palya means subji/curry). Mung Bean Curry can be prepared dry or as a gravy dish.

Moong bean being protein-rich, this Hesarukalu Palya is one of the perfect dishes to add more protein to your vegetarian diet.

I have made this recipe by soaking moong beans overnight but If you don't have time to soak lentils, You can still make this dish by setting the timer to 15 minutes on the INSTANT POT with (Quick Pressure Release) and for ¾ cup of dry green lentils add 3 cups of water.

Have this as a green moong dal soup with a piece of bread or baguette. You can also add veggies like carrot, broccoli, squash along with lentils before you pressure cook, and instead of water use vegetable stock or broth.

Stir spinach or kale at the end to make this a healthy vegetable lentil soup. 

If you are looking for more Lentil (dal) recipes check Dal tadka, Spinach Dal / Palak Dal, Panchmel dal from my blog.

If you love Lentils & Beans and looking for more Instant Pot Indian Recipes? Here are my 22+ Instant Pot lentils & Beans Recipes you must try.

Ingredients for Green Moong Lentils

• Whole Green Moong Dal: Have soaked dried Green moong dal (mung beans) overnight and used in the recipe. You can easily find whole green mung dal in Indian grocery stores or Amazon.
• Onion, green chili, garlic, and ginger: I have used finely chopped onions, green chilies and garlic-ginger paste.
• Tomato: Used 2 medium finely chopped Roma tomatoes. You can also use canned tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes.
• Oil: use any cooking oil of your choice.
• Spices: I have used turmeric, red chili powder, coriander powder, and garam masala as dry spices. Used cumin seeds for whole spices.

How to Make Green Moong Dal in Instant Pot

Firstly, wash and soak moong dal overnight (or about 6-7 hours).

Press Saute on Instant Pot. Add oil and once it's hot add cumin seeds. Let them crackle.

Add ginger-garlic paste, saute till the ginger-garlic turns golden brown.

Next add onions, green chili and allow to saute for 2-3 minutes until translucent - stir regularly.

Then add tomatoes, dry spices like turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder, garam masala, and cook for 1-2 minutes, till tomato turns soft.

Now add soaked moong dal, water, and salt give a stir.

Close the lid on the pot. Set the pot to manual (High Pressure) and set the timer to 3 minutes (for firmer moong beans) or 5 minutes(for softer, broken up moong beans).

Once the pot beeps, manually do a quick pressure release (QR).

Lastly, remove the lid away from you, add cilantro and lemon juice. Also, adjust the consistency of the dal at this point.

Serve Instant Pot whole green moong da hot with any flatbread, steamed rice, roti, quinoa, or eat as a soup.

Stovetop Pressure Cooker Method

Follow the same steps as above. Just cook the green lentils on a stovetop pressure cooker for 2 whistles on high heat, then set the heat to medium-low and cook for another 5-8 minutes. Pressure cooker green moong dal is ready.

Stovetop Pot/Pan Method:

Use a thick bottomed deep pot or pan. Follow the same steps as above. Add the soaked green moong dal, 3-3.5 cups of water. Cover the pan with a lid and cook the green lentils on medium-high flame till done (appx takes 15-20 minutes).

Serving Suggestions

Serve Green Moong Dal hot with roti, paratha, steamed rice, quinoa.

Tips & Variations for Mung Bean Curry

• If you don't have time to soak lentils. You can still make this dish by setting the timer to 15 minutes on the INSTANT POT with (Quick Pressure Release) and for ¾ cup of dry green lentils add 3 cups of water.
• If you don't have garam masala, add half a teaspoon each of cumin powder and coriander powder.
• If your green moong dal is watery, you can turn on the saute and cook for another 2-3 minutes in the end.
• No onion/no garlic variation: You can take out the onion and can replace garlic with a pinch of asafetida/hing.

More Curry Recipes

• Lauki(Bottle gourd) Sabji
• Black Eye Pea Curry(Lobia curry)
• Zucchini Besan Sabzi
• Potato Peas Curry
• Mushroom Masala

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