Gourmet kitchari (moong dal)

I don’t know if the ground hog’s prediction is right or wrong but it is still cold here. So let’s go to a more exotic place like India and get a popular dish. No worries, no exotic foods will be used. You should be able to find all the ingredients here in the US at any grocery store. If your grocery store does not have them, you can try any Indian or Asian store but really all these ingredients are common in the US. I serve the dish with whatever vegetables I can get in the store, spinach, kale, cauliflower etc.

This dish is more of a gourmet version of the simple kitchari with the addition of mustard seed, cinnamon, cardamom and chili pepper. You can also add your favorite vegetarian dishes to make it more complete and fun. I used spinach, paneer, fried mushrooms and rice. Kitchari is such a healthy dish even if you serve it with all these other foods. If you want to experience the healthiest dish on the planet, please check out my simple kitchari recipe from last year.

RECIPE

Ingredients

1 onion
1 cup of mung beans
vegetable oil (I used home made ghee. )
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced
10-15 mustard seeds
1″ stick of cinnamon
seeds of 3 green cardamom pods (discard green shell)
1 tomato, chopped (canned is fine)
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 cloves of garlic
1 cup of stock (more if you want a soup)
1 green chili pepper (you can remove the seeds if you don’t like your dish too hot)
salt and black pepper to taste
yoghurt
cilantro
lime or lemon

Direction

Clean and soak mung beans overnight but at least for 2 hours. Pour off soaking liquid and use fresh cold water to cook the beans for 1 hour.
Making the gravy. Saute the onion on medium high heat. You can add the cinnamon stick.
When you smell the nice aroma of the cinnamon, add the ginger, cardamom seeds, mustard seeds and cumin seeds, Stir and cook for about 5 minutes.
Add the powders (turmeric, cumin, coriander), stir. Add garlic, stir.
Add 1 chopped tomato and cook for about 5-10 minutes until it becomes saucy.
Add chopped chili pepper and cold stock, stir.
Bring to a boil, turn down and cook for 30 minutes.
Add in the cooked mung beans and cook for 15 more minutes or untl beans are done.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Serve warm with rice, yoghurt, cilantro and lemon.
I also used paneer with spinach stew and fried mushrooms.