Mag nu Shaakમગનું શાક
Whole green moong cooked into a light, brothy sabzi is the gentlest dish in the Gujarati kitchen. It is what families cook after an illness, or when they want dinner to be easy on the stomach.
Ingredients
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- 1 cup whole green moong, soaked 4 hours
- 2 tbsp oil, mustard seeds, cumin, asafoetida, curry leaves
- 1 tsp ginger-chilli paste
- Turmeric, coriander-cumin powder, 1 tsp jaggery, salt
- 1 tomato, optional
- Lemon and coriander
Method
- Pressure cook the soaked moong for 2-3 whistles; the grains should stay whole.
- Temper oil with mustard seeds, cumin, asafoetida and curry leaves, then add ginger-chilli paste.
- Add the tomato and spices and cook 2 minutes.
- Add the moong, jaggery, salt and 1 cup water, and simmer 10 minutes.
- Finish with lemon and coriander and serve with rotli or rice.
Tips
- Do not overcook; two or three whistles keep the beans whole.
- Sprouted moong cooks softer and a little faster.
Storing and reheating
It keeps two or three days in the fridge and thickens as it cools, so add half a cup of water when reheating. Pulse dishes sour quickly in the heat, so do not leave it out more than four or five hours in summer. It freezes for a month, though a fresh tempering poured over afterwards makes it taste new again.
What you can swap
- No whole moong? Matki or black-eyed peas work, with matki needing one extra whistle. Split moong with its skin on also works, but the grains will not stay whole.
- Jaggery can be replaced with half a teaspoon of sugar, though you lose its deeper sweetness. A teaspoon of date paste sits very well here too.
- To skip the tomato, finish with half a teaspoon of amchur or two pieces of kokum. You keep the sourness and the gravy stays clear.
- Instead of mashing beans to thicken, whisk a teaspoon of gram flour into water, stir it in and simmer five minutes. The grains stay whole that way.
What to serve with it
An everyday Gujarati meal dish with rotli or bhakhri, alongside rice, curd and a raw onion sambharo. It is also what gets cooked as light food after an illness, or after a stretch of rich festival eating. Made with sprouted moong it doubles as a breakfast dish.
Mistakes to avoid
- Do not skip the soaking. Unsoaked moong needs far more whistles, and half the grains split while the other half stay hard.
- Do not salt the soaking water. It slows the softening rather than helping. Salt goes in while cooking or afterwards.
- Do not add two cups of water at once. Start low and top up as needed, because boiling water off at the end mashes the grains.
- Do not squeeze lemon into the dish while it is bubbling. Add it after the heat is off, or it turns bitter.
Questions people ask
Do I have to soak the moong?
Yes. Soaked for four hours, the grains cook whole and tender in two or three whistles. If you are short of time, an hour in hot water is the minimum; any less and the beans cook unevenly in the cooker.
How do I sprout moong at home?
Soak washed moong for eight hours, drain well, then tie it in a damp cotton cloth or cover it in a colander and leave it somewhere warm. Sprouts appear in ten to twelve hours in summer and eighteen to twenty in winter.
The sabzi tastes flat. What is missing?
Usually the jaggery and lemon balance, since a Gujarati sabzi wants a touch of both sweet and sour. If it is still flat, pour over a fresh tempering with half a teaspoon of coriander-cumin powder and a pinch of asafoetida.
