Healthy, low fat, satiating and easy, curried mung beans without oil. Simmered in a spiced tomato and onion sauce. Naturally vegan and gluten-free.
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What are curried mung beans?
Curried mung beans, or green gram curry, are small rounded green legumes, that have been simmered in a curried sauce.
This recipe is made with a base of freshly chopped tomatoes and onions.
The flavoring comes from spices including curry powder, cumin and turmeric, chili with the addition of ginger, onion and garlic powders.
😋Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- One pot, chop and drop type of meal
- Big batch and left-over approved (by my family)
- Dietary friendly - suitable for vegans, gluten free, dairy free, oil free (WFPB), corn free, low fat and soy free.
- A great source of starch to keep you satiated
✔️Ingredients You’ll Need
Notes on some of the ingredients, the full list of ingredients and their measurements can be found in the recipe card below.
Dry mung beans (aka dry green gram) can be found at your local oriental grocer, some supermarkets, fruit market and Costco. Otherwise you can purchase them here online (affiliate link).
Soak the beans (after cleaning/sorting out any unwanted pieces) for at least two hours prior to cooking in warm water.
Fresh onion and tomato should be chopped small and are part of the sauce.
Tomato paste adds richness to the sauce in this curry recipe.
Curry powder you can use your preferred brand, or try this one (affiliate link).
Onion and garlic powder also adds flavor and enhances the fresh crushed garlic and onion.
Cumin an integral part of any curry flavoring. You can adjust this to suit your taste, however, note that cumin can be bitter if too much is added.
Vegetable stock - use your preferred brand or a homemade version. Vegetable stock creates a really rich flavoring, you can opt-out of this ingredient and replace it with Himalayan salt to suit your taste. The reason why you can do this is due to all the spices and aromatics added. I alternate between the two versions.
Fresh lime or lemon juice to squeeze on top of the green gram curry, the amount added is per personal preference.
Fresh parsley will need to be finely chopped. The stalks are great to stir through during cooking and the parsley leaves are added fresh on top.
🍛How To Make Curried Mung Beans
Step 1 - In a nonstick pan, add 3 tablespoons of vegetable stock and fry onion and tomato until wilted. Stir through fresh garlic and ginger for a minute, then stir through all the spices, including the onion and garlic powders.
Step 2 - Stir through the beans, finely chopped parsley stalks and add the vegetable stock. Bring to a boil with the lid on and then turn down the heat to low-medium and simmer for 30 minutes or until the beans have completely softened. Turn off heat and stir through lime juice. Serve warm topped with the finely chopped parsley.
⭐ Pro Tips
Green gram soaks up a lot of water so the result will be thick, creamy and soft beans.
Feel free to adjust the measurements of the spices to suit your taste. You can also up the amount of garlic and ginger used.
You can water down your meal if you’d like it runnier, you will need to adjust the salt and perhaps some of the spices.
Pan Frying Without Oil
It is important to use a good quality nonstick pan (I love using my Scanpan (affiliate link) as it heats up evenly and is easy to work with)
Use a couple of spoonfuls of water when frying without oil to start with and then add a spoonful at time as needed.
Rapid stirring is needed unless there are ample amounts of fluid, otherwise, the food will stick to the pan.
🍛Serving Suggestions
My family loves eating curried mung bean with either boiled or steamed potatoes and an equal amount fresh side of salad, such as cabbage salad called Malfouf salad.
You can also try it with oven-baked sweet potatoes, a side of rice such as vermicelli rice or Instant Pot basmati rice or flatbread (plain or garlic), along with some steamed vegetables such as broccoli.
We also love to top it with some fresh chili and a side of pickles.
❓FAQ
It is not mandatory, but soaking does help mung beans absorb flavours better. Soaking the beans can be anywhere from two hours through to overnight. As these beans are small beans, they cook quite quickly in comparison to other beans. If you do not pre-soak the beans, simmer them for at least 50-60 minutes.
Mung beans have a lightly nutty, slightly sweet taste, similar to other pulses (beans) but milder in flavor. They take on added flavors really well when cooked, they have a slight buttery flavor.
Allow the curried mung beans to completely cool down to room temperature, then place in an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to five days. Take out the required portion and reheat as needed. Alternatively, seal in an air-tight container and place in the freezer for up to 3 months.
🍲Related Recipes
If you are a fan of simple curry recipes, try out my vegetable curry puffs or the most satisyfingly creamy chickpea and lentil curry!
Looking for more bean recipes? Try this vegetarian cassoulet by Keeping It Simple or this black bean soup by Veggie Inspired.
Otherwise check out this mouthwatering chayote curry by Plant Food at Home.
Did you make this? I'd love to know! Leave me a comment below with a ★★★★★ rating or tag @plantbasedfolk on social media.
Curried Mung Beans
Ingredients
- 2 cups Mung beans wash and soaked in warm water for 2 hours
- 2 medium Tomatoes diced
- 1 medium Onion diced
- 1 small Lime juiced. Or lemon
- 1 tablespoon Tomato paste
- 2½ cm Ginger finely chopped
- 3 cloves Garlic crushed
- 1 tablespoon Curry powder
- 1 tablespoon Garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon Onion powder
- 1 teaspoon Cumin powder
- ¼ teaspoon Hot chili powder
- 1 teaspoon Coriander powder
- ½ teaspoon Turmeric powder
- 5 cups Vegetable stock can be replaced with water and salt. See notes
- 1 large handful Parsley separate the stalks and the leaves and finely chop both
Instructions
- In a nonstick pan, add 3 tablespoons of vegetable stock and fry onion and tomato until wilted. Stir through fresh garlic and ginger for a minute then stir through all the spices, including the onion and garlic powders.2 medium Tomatoes, 1 medium Onion, 1 tablespoon Tomato paste, 2½ cm Ginger, 3 cloves Garlic, 1 tablespoon Garlic powder, 1 tablespoon Onion powder, 1 teaspoon Cumin powder, ¼ teaspoon Hot chili powder, 1 teaspoon Coriander powder, ½ teaspoon Turmeric powder, 1 tablespoon Curry powder
- Stir through the mung beans, parsley stalks and add the vegetable stock. Bring to a boil with the lid on and then turn down the heat to low-medium and simmer for 30 minutes or until theb beans have completely softened. Turn off heat and stir through lime juice. Serve warm topped with the finely chopped parsley.2 cups Mung beans, 1 small Lime, 5 cups Vegetable stock, 1 large handful Parsley
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Notes
Equipment
Nutrition
N.B., nutrition info is an estimate based on an online nutrition calculator. This will vary based on the specific ingredients you use.
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Bianca
Found a big pack of mung beans at Costco, found this recipe, had all the ingredients. I’ve never had beans like this, they were creamy. I’m new to cooking without oil too, doing it for my health, I’m excited to have found your website, I think I will try your other curry recipes next