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Recipes with mung beans

6 recipes that use mung beans, with photos, step-by-step instructions and cook times. The quickest, Moshkichiri, takes 60 minutes. It is most often cooked with onion, short-grain rice and dried mint.

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Kichiri quroot

Ask Afghans what their grandmother cooked on cold winter evenings and kichiri quroot comes up again and again: a soft mound of short-grain rice and mung beans cooked until creamy and sticky, with a well pressed into the top and filled with qurut, the salty sauce made from dried yogurt balls. Hot oil with dried mint is poured over just before it reaches the table, and the rice is eaten with a spoon from a shared plate. Families in Kabul often serve it with a pan of meatballs in tomato sauce on the side; this is the meatless version, which is just as common on a quiet night. If you rinse all the starch away it will never turn sticky, so wash the rice only once. Chef's tip: if you can't find qurut, thick strained yogurt with a pinch of salt and garlic gives you something close.

75 minAfghanRice & GrainsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Maush palaw

Maush palaw belongs to the frugal, generous side of Herati cooking, a rice that costs little but is brought to the table with the same care as a festive palaw. Long grains of rice are steamed with whole green mung beans in a broth coloured by deeply browned onion, then crowned with apricots and raisins softened in oil, so each spoonful is savoury and earthy with a sweet, chewy surprise. Some cooks bury pieces of lamb in the rice, but meatless versions are everyday food across western Afghanistan and Kabul, eaten with yogurt, a salad of tomato and onion and a spoonful of chutney. Overcooking the mung beans before they meet the rice is the trap here; stop when they are tender but still whole, or they turn to paste in the steaming. Chef's tip: let the onions go a really deep mahogany brown, because that colour is what tints the rice.

75 minAfghanRice & GrainsVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Mashawa

When winter closes the roads around Mazar-i-Sharif and Kunduz, mashawa is the pot that simmers longest on the bukhari stove: a thick, tangy soup of mung beans, chickpeas and kidney beans, with tiny meatballs poached in it and a spoonful of qurut, salty dried yogurt, stirred through at the end. Dill and dried mint make it smell like a summer garden, and a little chilli warms it up; it is eaten with naan as a full meal, and Kabul families make it too. Bean soups like this stick to the pan and scorch easily once the beans soften, which leaves a bitter taste, so stir from the bottom often. Chef's tip: keep the meatballs no bigger than a hazelnut; they cook quickly and you get one in every spoonful.

90 minAfghanSoupsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Moshkichiri

Moshkichiri is a soft, homely dish cooked in Tashkent kitchens on chilly evenings and for anyone who needs gentle food: mung beans and short-grain rice cooked together until creamy, with onion and carrot fried in cotton-seed or sunflower oil stirred through. Many families add a little lamb; this version keeps it meat-free, with cumin and plenty of black pepper. It is eaten with a spoon from a deep bowl, often with a dollop of suzma on the side. A common mistake is adding the rice at the same time as the mung beans; the rice turns to mush before the beans soften. Chef's tip: let it stand off the heat, covered, for 10 minutes before serving so it settles into a thick, spoonable porridge.

60 minUzbekRice & GrainsVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Moshkhurda

Moshkhurda is a thick, warming soup from Tashkent and the Ferghana Valley, made with mung beans and a little rice cooked in a broth with fried onion, carrot, potato and tomato, and finished in the bowl with a spoon of tangy suzma and fresh dill and coriander. Cooked with lamb in many homes, it is also commonly made without meat on light days. A common mistake is serving it without the suzma; the sour, creamy yogurt is what balances the earthy beans. Chef's tip: fry the tomato paste until it darkens, which gives the broth its deep orange colour and rounded taste.

65 minUzbekSoupsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Sholeh Mashhadi

Sholeh Mashhadi is cooked in huge pots in Mashhad, the shrine city of Khorasan, and handed out to pilgrims and neighbours as nazri (a votive offering), especially during the month of Muharram. Wheat, rice, lentils, mung beans, chickpeas and lamb are cooked for hours with onion and spices, then beaten with a wooden paddle until everything melts into one thick, stretchy porridge, topped with fried onion, mint oil and a dusting of cinnamon. A home pot is smaller but follows the same rhythm. A common mistake is leaving it unstirred towards the end; the grains catch and burn, so stir and scrape the base every 10 minutes once it thickens. Chef's tip: cook the lamb on the bone first and shred it; the broth from the bones gives the porridge its body.

300 minPersianCurries
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Goes well with mung beans