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Moong Beans, Greens and Mango. With Sourdough Rotis.
August 12, 2008 | 43 Comments
A stack of sourdough rotis (thin flatbreads) waiting to be eaten. How about a lentil-veggie combo to go with it??
Open recipe book. Find an interesting dish under ‘Lentils’. It starts with
“Chop 1 big onion. Fry it on a medium flame until it turns slightly brown on the edges – about 10 minutes. Then add tomatoes. Fry for another 10 minutes.”
All for one lentil side dish. To serve four.
Next page … same story. And another. And another. To heck with the recipe book.
I’m truly sick and tired of those Indian cookbooks where the authors assume all their readers are like Jacques freaking Pepin. I would really love recipes that take no more than 10 minutes prep and supervision time, especially when it’s 102F outside.
There are some cookbook authors who like to add four extra steps to a 20-step recipe. Just for giggles. I read one recipe somewhere for idlis that went:
“Get whole urad. Soak it in water for eight hours. Then rub the skins off. Then grind it. Then let it ferment overnight.”
Yeah … I know … you’d rather poke your eyes with a hot iron rod than get skinned urad dal from the store, or make a dish that doesn’t begin with a mound of onions and tomatoes to be fried.
Some folks just want to get it over with already and move on to other things. Which is how this dish came about. The tempering was an afterthought ‘cos the green sludge was darn ugly to look at. Being vainglorious and all, I wanted to dress it up. I’m glad I did, ‘cos the fried ginger and garlic did enhance the flavour a great deal.
The end result was totally creamy and delicious.
I decided to go with whole beans for a change. The jar of whole moong beans happened to be at the front of the shelf. As I was pulling it out, farmer dude walked in with a pound of chard. I have to check his ears. The furry growth in there may be chard too. I christen him ‘Captain Chardelius’.
He’s the one ordained to dethrone Captain Cornelius – the scamster created by corn lobby to have us believe that our future lies in ethanol-based fuel.
According to research reported last year by a team led by Nobel Prize-winning chemist Paul Crutzen, ethanol derived from corn may generate up to 50 percent more greenhouse gases than gasoline, because up to twice as much nitrous oxide may be released by the production process due to increased use of nitrogen fertilizers on corn (one of the most fertilizer-heavy crops).
Plus corn is not as easy to grow as chard. See, where our house is now used to be a corn field five years ago – with irrigation and the works.
This year, we decided to grow corn. We dreamt of sleeping each night on a bed of corn silk, surrounded by bushelfuls of golden glory.
Six plants and two months later, we have just four or five small cobs to show. They guzzle water. And need TLC. We threw a handful of chard seeds, and we have a forest with no fussing or coddling.
Remember, you read this here first. Chard-based fuel holds the hope for the future. We will gladly supply a couple of carloads to those who want to initiate the research. Imagine the glorious day when the yellow light on the dashboard comes on, and all you have to do is shove a couple of handfuls of chard in the fuel tank.
That was my brain fart for the day. Back to the mound of chard on my counter. That, and 3/4 cup of whole moong beans. I prefer integers to fractions or decimals, so I add 1/4 cup black-eyed peas.
Wash the beans and put them in a pressure cooker (with the weight on) with
4 cups water
a little salt
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
No pre-soaking required.
At just short of two whistles, turn the heat off and wait for the steam to subside. If you’re doing this on the stovetop, increase the water to 5 cups and cook it until the moong beans begin to soften, but the black-eyed peas are firm and 3/4 cooked.
Meanwhile, farmer dude has washed and cleaned the chard. Remove the thick stems and chop it up. We have about 8 cups, loosely packed. Any mild greens like amaranth or spinach will work. Frozen is really convenient (you’ll need six ounces frozen).
Open the lid and add
1/4 cup fresh or frozen grated coconut or 2 tbsps dry dessicated unsweetened coconut
1 pound chopped greens (or 6 oz. frozen)
3 or 4 finely chopped hot green chillies like serrano or Thai bird chillies
1 cup chopped green mango
If using frozen green mango (as we did), thaw it and chop it into bits. If you don’t have green mango, use another souring agent like 1/2 tsp tamarind concentrate, or 2 tbsps thick tamarind pulp from fresh tamarind soaked in hot water. Or use a tablespoon or two of lime juice (add it at the very end).
Bring it all to a boil (add a cup or two of water if you need it). Check seasonings and add more salt if needed. Let it simmer until the greens are wilted and the mango pieces are soft, but have a bit of bite to them. By now, the beans should be cooked. If using frozen greens thaw in the microwave and add them after you put in the rest of the ingredients and the beans are cooked. Simmer for about 5 minutes after that.
Tempering:
Heat
1 tbsp oil (non-vegans can use ghee/clarified butter).
Add
1 tsp cumin seeds.
When they sizzle, add
2 tbsps ginger juliennes
2 tbsps thinly sliced garlic
When the garlic begins to turn golden, put the contents of the pan into the lentils.
Serve hot with flatbreads, rice or on its own. Yum yum yum.
SOURDOUGH ROTIS
This is a good way to use up leftover sourdough starter.
Knead 1 cup stiff whole wheat or rye sourdough starter (8 to 9 ounces) with 2 cups whole wheat chapati flour (atta) with salt to taste and enough water to make a smooth, pliable dough.
(Atta is whole wheat flour with a finer grind that regular whole wheat flour. It is available at the Indian grocer. Make sure it says “100% whole wheat”.)
Let it rest for 10-15 minutes, then roll out into discs and make them like regular rotis. LIKE THIS.
The dough may be a tad stickier, but an extra dusting of flour should take care of that. They were soft and delicious.
Moong Beans with Greens and Mango is our entry for dear Susan’s My Legume Love Affair @ The Well-Seasoned Cook.
This lentil dish along with sourdough rotis was my vegan breakfast today and goes to Weekend Breakfast Blogging: Combi Breakfasts hosted by my friend Latha of Masala Magic.
- Bee
Filed Under: black-eyed pea, Chard - Swiss/Red/Rainbow, Chillies/Peppers, Coconut, dal, flatbread, GARDENING, Garlic, Ginger, green mango, Lentils, Mango, moong-bean, mung-bean, sourdough, vegan recipes, vegetarian recipes, Wheat
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43 Comments
hahahaha love u’re writing style! LOL on the brain fart
u guys are something – trying to grow corn! WOw!
hehehe! Good entry!
Sourdough rotis sound and look delish! And the lentil dish looks divine too – i can eat it just plain – like a soup – a protein packed lunch!
I thought u only ate cereal for breakfast
what a delicious entry Bee! Mouth-watering.
yummy! Love your rant – so right on target! So where do I get frozen green mango in the U.S.?
the indian store. you may even find fresh there or in the hispanic or chinese store, but it has to be really green and sour. you can’t be sure until you cut it open. that’s why we prefer frozen. else, use lime juice at the very end.
Looks yummy…agree with your point on corn based fuel….apart from all the environmental impact ..it is one of the reasons why food prices went high up…..i am scared to buy frozen raw mango from indian grocery store.last time i got them they were all black and all….
I love visiting your blog, there are so many different dishes I have never had to drool over. That looks fantastic, love the iron pot!
Now you tell me: you’re sitting on what used to be a field! You have soil that can be tamed more easily than the clumps of clay we have here.
You might need to fire the farmer. He seems to take too long to wash and clean the chard. But heck if the chard is as gorgeous as that pic, then I would take just as long, too.
we have like 2 inches of soil and construction debris underneath. and clay. you can make pots with it. we had to make a separate veggie patch with new soil for the veggies. the soil here is worse than in our previous home.
Do u have a corn field too
Day by day, I get more excited seeing and reading about your gardening 
Sounds very simple & delicious this recipe!
A wonderful recipe, and what an idea with sourdough rotis. Sour dough is really a very healthy thing.
And you have finally answered my question I have been asking everyone and trying to figure out myself: Is atta flour sold in markets really whole wheat? Now, I couldn’t have got a more precise answer. I always wondered why these people never mention on the package if it is really whole wheat, So my suspicion was right.
Thanks a ton!
now, there are 4 or 5 brands that are 100% whole wheat. ones we know of: annapurna, ashirwad, pillsbury chakki atta, sujatha and lakshmi.
Thanks for the info! I will try to find if I get any of them here. I would think with 99% probability that I don’t. But, who knows, I haven’t been to an Indian shop in ages.
Nice and hilarious post Bee.The picture of the chard leaf is stunning.The recipe sounds awesome with mango and coconut flavours
That chard leaf is looking so fresh. Did you shoot it in daylight? I totally dig that picture.
natural light plus additional light.
Oh that gravy is yummy and I particularly like the fried ginger & garlic topping. Sourdough rotis sound real good too.
oh i totally agree. a recipe i read said
“soak raw rice for 3-4 hours, then grind fine (Do not try and use the ground raw rice available in the market)”.
HUH? why ever not? I gave the cookbook away to someone who loves to make things from scratch.
Mung beans are extremely difficult to pretty up, but that dish makes my stomach grumble. Good job
Made a note, read about the chard fuel here first.
But first I must buy and eat it- the chard that is. The dal looks very different. I would never throw those ingredients together.But now that I have read this, I might some day (when I’m hating the onions). Tadka looks fab. Sourdough rotis? Yes, absolutely..must get sourdough starter….
There are few things that take up time. But we usually get irritated when there’s less time and we are hungry and our energy levels are low and…what not ? This dish would taste wonderful than it looks I bet! And dry roastin the beans for 2-3 mins in a pan before cooking them in the pressure cooker helps soft cooking of the beans is its not pre-soaked.
I love that Manjula! I’ve watched a few of her other videos- she makes everything look so easy.
I have a browned onion tip for ya: at the Thai shops there have jars of pre-browned shallots and garlic (usually used to sprinkle on noodles). If you grind these up they can be used for gravies- not as good as fresh-bhuno’d, but if you want to take a shortcut to the northerly dhals… Also, minced sun-dried maters will carmelize quite quickly.
But I like what you did here with the farmer’s haul- looks like you’d be totally at home in a farm kitchen! hehehehehe
manjula is jain. she doesn’t use onions (or garlic). so her recipes are quick. and delicious.
Bee, for books that really test your patience, try cookery books in regional languages – at least in Telugu, all of them assume you know something if not everything, ingredients appear out of nowhere and disappear into thin air … they really suck!
a visit to your site always bring me to another place on earth…brilliant writing and of course stunning shots!!love love your photos!! and did i say delicious??? hugs to both of you!!
I am really intrigued by those sourdough rotis. What a fabulous idea.
Beautiful…just the way we like it…one of our regulars is red lentils boiled with garlic and other veggies+greens(usually spinach) along with salt and turmeric. Simple and natural flavours are the best.
That pic of the chard is such a beauty
Wow, the idea of sourdough rotis is amazing. I would have never though of that. The dal looks creamy and delicous too.
Love the chard-based fuel idea… sounds like a federal grant proposal in the making! ; P
Your dal combo sounds delish, I love the touch of green mango — will have to try that. And sourdough rotis… amazing… it’s funny you would begrudge the extra frying time in making the dal but whip up gourmet rotis like this without a second thought!
The bowl of lentil is inviting Bee. Viji
lol…onion/tomato indeed
that is a good all-in-1-dish
i love, love that chard pic…
we all love that bee who rants 
and bee, as usual loved reading ur rants
wow, that is indeed a unique blend of ingredients in that pot! and sourdough rotis sound great! but if I eat ths for breakfast, what’ll I eat for the remaining 3 meals of the day?!:D
Nice recipe..very innovative
Loved your rant Bee. Chard-based fuel – amen to that.
Here’s another quick lentil recipe that doesn’t even require tempering. Cook toor dal, chopped onion, tomatoes, lOTS of cilantro, tamarind paste and green chillies in a pressure cooker and you are good to go. The cooked cilantro lends a wonderful taste to the dal.
That picture of the chard leaf is one of your best yet.
Beans n greens with a twist..gotta love that.
Raw green mango? Frozen? At the Indian store?
Please say its true.
why does an onion need 10 minutes to get brown? even if its an enormously large one? i usually find timings, especially for parboil and steaming, exaggerated.
your chard is a looker..
i love picking out fried garlic & ginger bits from tarka and drive others nuts..your pics are so tempting me to do just that!
Healthy combi breakfast!
Few montha back i clicked on Moong beans cooked in a dal like way as we ususally eat,but no natter how hard i tried,i cudnt come up with decent pic,and its still lying in my drafts.Now ,thanks to u,i know it wasnt my fault but actually its hard to cook a good pic of that stuff….lolz
I won’t even want any roti, just give me a spoon and I’m good to go. That looks soooooo good.
[...] a famous cook among us got tired of cookery books and even thought about poking her eyes with iron rod than to buy husked u…, I felt sorry for her. I dug my recipe collection as I knew I had a recipe to save her. This recipe [...]
Years ago, I grew corn from seed. Just once. You don’t get many ears from a stalk to begin w/ no matter how rich the soil, and God help you if the wind doesn’t cross pollinate. I was out there with a little brush on a ladder doing it myself. Now I travel 50 miles for the best local corn in the state.
Thanks for the hearty bean dish for MLLA2.
[...] of Illatharasi 3. Pongal by SMN of Cookspot 4. Strawberry Banana Crepes by Yasmeen of HealthNut 5. Moong Beans with Greens and Mango with Sourdough Rotis by Bee and Jai of Jugalbandi 6. An Affair of Roti with Aloo by Lubna Karim of Yummy Food 7. Paneer Bhurji with Toast by Vanamala [...]
Pretty impressed. Cooking is more than ingreadients and method. This is what its about.
enjoyed it. will check up the rest of the recipes.
The sourdough starter should make a great kulcha. Thanks!
[...] have a bumper harvest of chard this year with stems in four colours – white, yellow pink and [...]
Is that a clay pot cookware? I’m drooling at the cookware more than that really yummy looking food.
I make an easy green moong dal dish too, with spinach. Maybe I’ll make just that for dinner, with frozen methi leaves.
that’s cast iron.
Wow! It’s beautiful! Thanks for letting me know.