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Moong Dal Gravy-Whole Green Gram Dhal Curry (sabzi)-Dal Recipes

May 29, 2013 by PadhuSankar 43 Comments

Green gram is known as “pachai payaru” in tamil and “moong dal” in Hindi. This moong dal gravy is yet another addition to my long list of side dishes for chapati. This is very easy to prepare and is a great side dish for both chapati and rice.Today we will learn how to make moong dal curry following this easy recipe with step wise pictures.
Moong dal gravy

Green Gram Dal/Moong Dal Recipe

Prep time – under 15 mins
Cook time – under 30 mins
Serves – 2

Ingredients needed

Green gram – 1/2 cup
Tomatoes – 3 medium size

Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp
Chilli powder – 1 tsp flat
Coriander powder – 2 tsp
Cumin powder – 1/2 tsp
Garam masala powder – 1/2 tsp or (kitchen king masala powder )

Salt as needed

For grinding

Onion – 2 medium size
Green chilli – 1-2
Garlic cloves – 4
Ginger – 1 inch piece

For the seasoning

Oil – 2 1/2 tbsp
Cumin/ jeera seeds – 1 tsp

For garnishing 

Coriander leaves

Preparation ( keep these 3 things ready)

1.Wash and soak green gram dal for 4 hours. Pressure cook with just enough water and little salt  for 3 whistles. Suppose if you forget to soak green gram, then you have to pressure cook it for more whistles until soft. 

2.Blanch tomatoes – Put them in boiling water and switch off the flame. Let it remain in hot water for 10 minutes. Then remove from water, peel off the skin and grind it to a puree.

3.Grind chopped onions, garlic, ginger and green chillies to a fine paste without adding water.

preparing moong dal gravy

Method

Heat oil in a kadai or pressure pan, add cumin seeds, when it splutters, add the ground paste and saute nicely until it changes color and the raw flavor goes. (if you do not saute this paste well, then you will get raw onion smell in the gravy)

Sauteing ginger garlic paste

Then add tomato puree, turmeric powder, salt, chilli powder, garam masala powder, coriander and cumin powder and saute well until the mixture oozes out oil. (see the difference between both the pictures below)

sauteing tomato puree

Add cooked green gram only after the tomatoes are well cooked. Saute for 2-3 seconds and then add 1 1/2 cup of water. Simmer and cook on low flame for 10 minutes.

Green gram dal curry

Alternatively, you can pressure cook for 1 whistle. Once the pressure subsides, open the cooker, add another 1/2 cup of water and boil for 2-3 minutes. Switch off the flame and garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves. Check for salt. 

Comforting, filling, delicious, simple and healthy Moong dal gravy is ready to be served with roti, parathas or rice.

Note – You can adjust the consistency of the gravy according to your preferences.

Check out more Dal Recipes  

Dinner Ideas 
Moong dal-Side dish for roti
Indian dinner Ideas –  Rotis-Moong Dal-Cucumber /kheera Raita

Indian Dinner Ideas-  Roti – Cucumber raita -Moong dal

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Filed Under: Bachelor Recipes, Side dish, Side Dish For Chapati, Uncategorized Tagged With: Dal, Health Dish, Moong dal, Uncategorized




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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Akila

    May 29, 2013 at 5:26 pm

    Love the dish

    Reply
  2. Laxmi

    May 29, 2013 at 5:39 pm

    I make this often.. healthy recipe.. 🙂

    Reply
  3. divya

    May 29, 2013 at 6:05 pm

    very tempting and mouthwatering recipe….

    Reply
  4. Madhavi K

    May 29, 2013 at 6:16 pm

    Healthy dal Paddu! Even I do this dal with slightly different procedure. Loved the 1st pic!

    Reply
  5. DEVERAJ NADAR

    May 29, 2013 at 6:43 pm

    hi padhu i almost tried all your recipes and it came very well . awesome such a fingerliking dish

    Reply
  6. Anonymous

    May 29, 2013 at 11:25 pm

    I love to make all types of legumes and beans in my pressure cooker. However, I've got to assume that Indian and American cookers are different somehow. Mine doesn't whistle…it hisses the steam out continuously. Can you convert your direction of "1 whistle" into a number of minutes for me? I know moong beans don't need much time to cook. BTW, love your recipes! Thanks!

    Reply
    • Adarsh Narayanan

      September 12, 2013 at 10:39 am

      You need to put what we call a weight on the outlet where steam hisses out. When the pressure builds up enough it lifts the weight and the steam whistles out until the pressure inside is the same as outside.

      Reply
  7. Shyamala Mohan

    May 30, 2013 at 4:40 am

    Padhu ji, you explain everything so good. Hats off to you. its sounds and looks very delicious. I will definitely try this. Thank you.

    Reply
  8. Suparna

    May 30, 2013 at 5:44 am

    hey padhu….love moong dal and this kind of dal is an all time favourite…love ur blog coz u detailing is so good…

    Reply
  9. malini

    May 30, 2013 at 5:54 am

    very healthy recipe and also the combination with chapathi and raitha suuuuper, yummyiiiii too. i will try this.

    Reply
  10. PadhuSankar

    May 30, 2013 at 8:39 am

    VJ – I do not know about the cookers available in US.Most important thing is moong dal should be cooked soft. That's all.Suppose if you soak moong dal overnight, then you can pressure cook for just 1 whistle. So do not bother about the whistles or hisses, just cook the moong dal until soft but not mushy.

    Reply
  11. Gajus kitchen

    May 30, 2013 at 9:05 am

    Looks delicious and a healthy and lovely spread for dinner..I usually make it as green gravy and will try this out.

    Reply
  12. Saranya Balaji

    May 30, 2013 at 9:10 am

    My fav curry recipe but i ll do this with different procedure…Ur's looks interesting padhu…

    Reply
  13. Sravs

    May 30, 2013 at 1:19 pm

    Super dish perfect with rotis !!

    Reply
  14. Neela Manogar

    May 31, 2013 at 2:24 pm

    Healthy and delicious curry.

    Reply
  15. Sandhya Guruprasad

    June 2, 2013 at 7:47 am

    Willl make it today!

    Reply
  16. MAnand

    June 11, 2013 at 5:10 am

    This is an awesome way to make Moong dhal! It is usually a pain to make my family eat the dhal-type moong dhal i make, but this went down rather quick! I now use this as the base for any gravy i make for different soaked beans and they all turn out just as well. Thank you so much!

    Reply
  17. Sid...!!:-)

    September 26, 2013 at 10:12 am

    Can the same recipe be tried with green gram sprouts? ? If so for how long should the sprouts be pressure cooked? ? Or can they just be added to the sauté and simmered with water covered till they are cooked? ?

    Reply
  18. Padhu Sankar

    September 27, 2013 at 3:08 pm

    Sid – Yes, it can be tried with moong sprouts. You can just add, saute and cook simmered in water. (your second suggestion)

    Reply
  19. Ajoy

    November 27, 2013 at 6:45 am

    Made my first attempt…came out really gud… Thnx.. 🙂

    Reply
  20. Aiswarya Sivagami

    December 11, 2013 at 8:42 pm

    Hi padhu..m a beginner in cooking..ur blog s very useful

    Reply
  21. Aiswarya Sivagami

    December 11, 2013 at 8:44 pm

    Padhu ur blog s very useful ..I really donno cooking at al..t s been a yr since m married. ..n nw I became an expert coz f ur blog..thanx luv t

    Reply
  22. issi

    January 12, 2014 at 6:37 pm

    Hi Padhu. I'm an Irish who loves Indian food, and I love using your blog to learn real Indian cooking. Thank you for all the great work you put into it. Can you advise me about grinding the spices please. What is the best equipment to use?

    Reply
    • Padhu Sankar

      January 13, 2014 at 7:37 am

      Thank you so much Issi. Glad you found my blog and recipes useful.
      In India, we grind it in a mixer grinder. The mixie we get here is suited for Indian cooking. You can use a small coffee grinder. Toast the spices slightly before grinding to bring out its flavor.

      Reply
  23. issi

    January 12, 2014 at 6:39 pm

    Also, do you grind the chillis with the seeds in? Does this make the dal very hot?

    Reply
    • Padhu Sankar

      January 13, 2014 at 7:38 am

      Yes. we grind it with the seeds. It does not make the dal hot. It depends on the variety of chilli used.

      Reply
  24. Nicola

    February 6, 2014 at 9:03 am

    Just tried this and it was delicious – thank you! (I was a bit lazy, though, and didn't blanch, peel and puree the tomatoes – just chopped them into small pieces.)
    Also, if you don't have time to soak the gram for 4 hours and/or don't have a pressure cooker, you can use the "quick soak" method: Put the gram in a pot with hot water and bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes and then remove from heat, cover, and let it sit in the same water for an hour or so. Drain and rinse and then cook as usual (it will be almost ready, so it won't take long). 🙂

    Reply
  25. My share of life

    May 11, 2014 at 5:20 pm

    Tried this out and turned out awesome 🙂 Thanks much.

    Reply
  26. zarin mistry

    November 15, 2014 at 2:46 am

    Thank you for step by step explanation

    Reply
  27. Nimitha

    January 14, 2015 at 2:33 pm

    Curry was super tasty. Thanks for sharing

    Reply
  28. Nandhini Sridaran

    May 26, 2015 at 1:26 am

    When I tried this recipe, I found the curry to be little bitter. Can u help me identify the mistake?

    Reply
    • Padhu Sankar

      May 28, 2015 at 8:18 am

      There is nothing in this recipe for the curry to turn bitter. One reason would be you might have over fried or burnt the onions. Add more oil if needed to saute the onion paste.

      Reply
  29. Vidya Arvind

    November 20, 2015 at 3:31 pm

    Hi. I too make this gravy often for dinner. A teaspoon of sugar in it adds to the flavour too. One can also add pav bhaji masala instead of garam masala for taste variation….my family prefers the dry moong sprouts bhaji to the gravy.:-)

    For dry curry, the sprouts should be pressured cooked with half glass water for 2 whistles and steam should be allowed to cool on it's own (10-15 min depending on the quantity of sprouts)

    Reply
  30. Unknown

    February 19, 2016 at 5:31 pm

    Thanks Padhu..I follow your blog offen.its a very useful one for me..tried this green gram recipe and turned out well.Thank you
    Regards, Rev

    Reply
  31. Pav

    April 24, 2016 at 7:24 am

    This is brilliant! Thank you for the detailed steps. It comes to the rescue of so many daughters in law 🙂

    Reply
  32. Raj Kumar

    June 21, 2016 at 4:10 am

    Tried this for the first time for my sis and it came out sooo good & awesome…. tada.. Unlike other websites padhuskitchen gives a clear picture step by step.. Thank you !!

    Reply
  33. Unknown

    July 7, 2016 at 7:35 am

    Shall we use sprouts for this instead of green gram

    Reply
    • Padhu Sankar

      July 7, 2016 at 2:20 pm

      Of course, you can use sprouts.

      Reply
  34. Sumitha Sethu madhavan

    October 2, 2016 at 2:03 pm

    Superb pathu mam I am a fresher in cooking your blog helps me a lot

    Reply
  35. Veni Janardhanan

    January 18, 2017 at 6:36 am

    Such a simple recipe and a yummy dish, I am a fan of your recipes :D, you rock !!!!

    Reply
  36. Melati

    March 14, 2018 at 2:13 am

    Padhu I tried your recipe yesterday and it turned out perfect!! Thanks!

    Reply
  37. Anonymous

    April 16, 2018 at 3:02 am

    Thank you, Padhu! As a single dad, your recipes have been a great benefit to cook a variety of delicious meals for my daughter and myself. I tried this today and it came out great! Once again, my heartfelt thanks for your efforts in putting out the recipes and maintaining them on this site.

    Reply
  38. G M Preetha

    April 19, 2019 at 5:48 pm

    Can you please let me know whats the reason for blanching tomatoes? Can I instead just grind the tomatoes without putting those tomatoes in hot water and peeling it's skin? What difference does it have?

    Reply

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Meet Padhu, the Chef, the photographer, recipe developer and web designer behind Padhuskitchen which features Simple Indian Vegetarian recipes, healthy recipes, kids friendly recipes, Indian festival recipes, traditional South Indian Vegetarian ...

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