Mug Bhaat (Mung Bean Soup with Basmati Rice) is a classic Gujarati dish which is cooked throughout the year. ‘Mug’ in this instance refers to the mung beans and bhaat is for the basmati rice. Very often, it is a dish which is made of special occasions such as the Hindu New Year, birth of a first child and the purchasing and inauguration of a new home.
The mung bean is also known as the moong bean and is the green gram plant species of the legume family. The mung bean is mainly utilised in culinary in the South Asian countries of the world such as Indian, China. Its main use is in both sweet and savoury dishes. While researching, I did not come across many recipes for mung beans and was surprised at how few people really use these magnificent beans in their cooking.
This is a very healthy recipe and uses basic ingredients which can be found in the home. Its high in protein and very easy to make. I do not use onions or garlic in my recipe and I usually don’t soak the mung beans before I cook them.
As the recipe name states, the mung beans are eaten with basmati rice. However, like with any dish it isn’t strictly true, you can for example eat the mung beans with rotli and salad like I do. The taste of this mug bhaat recipe is wholesome and aromatic and goes well with basmati rice, rotli, pickle, any veggie side dish or salad.
Enjoy making and let me know how it tastes for you and how you prefer to serve it.
Gujarati Mung Bhaat (Gujarati Mung Bean Soup with Basmati Rice)
Gujarati Mung Bhaat (Gujarati Mung Bean Soup with Basmati Rice)
Ingredients
250g raw organic mung beans
1 tablespoon ghee (or olive oil)
½ teaspoon organic asafoetida
½ teaspoon organic mustard seeds
½ teaspoon organic cumin seeds
½ teaspoon organic mustard seeds
2 organic dried red chillies (optional)
2 organic bay leaves
a few organic whole aniseed
a few organic dried mangosteen slices (garcinia indica)
5-6 organic neem (limdo) leaves
3-4 organic tomatoes or 200g chopped canned tomatoes
1 teaspoon organic ginger
1 teaspoon organic turmeric powder
5-7g organic jaggery or 2 teaspoons brown sugar
Sea salt to taste
Organic coriander leaves to garnish
Method
- Wash the mung beans thoroughly and pressure cook in 500ml of water until soft but have retained their shape.
- Once cooked, set aside retaining the water.
- Finely chop the tomatoes if you’re using fresh and mince the ginger.
- Heat up a non-stick pan, add ghee or olive oil along with mustard seeds, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, red chillies. (Add the chillies according to require spice levels, for a mild/medium taste, use red chillies in tempering).
- Allow these to become aromatic on a low-medium heat then add the asafoetida.
- Add the mung dal wih the water and then add the tomatoes; fresh or canned and stir.
- Allow the sauce to simmer slightly then add the minced ginger, neem leaves, aniseed, bay leaves, dried mangosteen slices, salt, jaggery (or sugar) and turmeric powder.
- Stir well and simmer at a low medium heat for 20 minutes or until the sauce thickens slightly. Stir at regular intervals.
- Turn off the heat and garnish with coriander leaves.
- Serve with basmati rice, rotli, veggie side dish or salad.
Best Wishes,
Krishna
Cooking With Krish 
How should you prepare the mung beans if you don’t have a pressure cooker? Just boil them? How long do you think it would take doing it this way? Thanks
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Boil them on a medium heat for about 40 minutes or until they are soft and easily mashed between your thumb and finger. Hope this helps.
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