Kale, Mung bean and coconut: light and protein rich vegetarian delicacy…
I’ve been into North Indian cooking lately, there are a lot to explore and taste. If I make Indian food at home it’s mostly South Indian dishes, at times I do make a few North Indian dishes too. I do have a good understanding about most of the South Indian dishes so I thought it’s big time I switch to North Indian cooking. Indian cuisine is divided into South Indian and North Indian. However, it’s so vast and each state in India has it’s own unique flavors and dishes. I will first share all the common North Indian dishes after that I’ll experiment with different flavors and spices.
This kale mung bean curry is more of a fusion dish, dal curry is very popular in North India, since I’ve added coconut it gets a South Indian touch too. Usually, spinach is added but I wanted to make it different so I added kale. You could add chana dal or toor dal instead of mung dal. This curry goes well with rice, chapati, rotis etc.
Step by Step Pictures
Cooked Mung bean and kale
After adding coconut paste
- Mung or Moong dal, (without skin) soaked in water- 1 cup
- Kale leaves, chopped- 1 bunch
- Green chili, halved- 2
- Small onions, halved- 6
- Tomato, chopped- 1
- Salt- 1½ tsp
- Water- ½ cup
- Coconut grated - ¾ cup
- Cumin seeds- 1 tsp
- Turmeric powder- ¼ tsp
- Water- ¼ cup
- Coconut oil or vegetable oil- 1 tbsp
- Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
- Whole dried red chili - 2
- Soak the mung or moong dal in water for 2 hours.
- Chop the kale leaves.
- Into a blender jar, add coconut, cumin seeds, turmeric powder & water, grind to a coarse paste.
- Into a pressure cooker, add the mung dal, green chili, small onions, chopped kale leaves, tomato, salt and water. Cook till 2 whistles.
- After the pressure subsides, open the cooker and add the ground coconut paste, combine well.
- Cook the mixture for a few minutes, add ½ to 1 cup water to thin down the gravy.
- Let the curry come to a slight boil.
- Taste and add more salt if needed.
- If you want the curry to be spicy you can add ½ to 1 tsp chili powder while cooking the gravy.
- Remove the cooker from the heat and keep the curry covered.
- Heat a small frying pan, add coconut oil, let oil turn hot.
- Add mustard seeds, let it splutter.
- Add dried red chilies, saute for a couple of seconds.
- Pour the seasoning over the kale-mung bean curry, combine well and keep covered for a few minutes.
- Serve with rice, chapati or roti.
