Mung dal with brown rice

By Nikola · Precision Nutrition L1 · Sources checked 5 November 2026

In India, dal is the word for both a dried pulse and the stew you make from it. This one uses whole green mung beans, simmered until soft, then finished with a tadka: cumin and fenugreek seeds sizzled in ghee with onion, garlic, ginger, turmeric and tomato. Served with brown rice cooked on the side, it makes a filling vegetarian dinner for four, and it tastes even better the next day.

Portion: dal with rice · Difficulty: Easy · Diet: Vegetarian, gluten-free (vegan with olive oil instead of ghee)

Mung dal with brown rice

Whole mung beans simmered until soft and finished with a ghee tadka of cumin, fenugreek, onion, garlic, ginger, turmeric and tomato. Served with brown rice.

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 50 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 5 minutes mins

Course Mains

Servings 4 servings

Calories 437 kcal

Ingredients

  

• 200 g whole green mung beans dried (1 cup)
• 200 g brown rice about 1 cup
• 20 g ghee 1 1/2 tbsp
• 1 tsp cumin seeds 2 g
• 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds 2 g
• 1 medium onion 120 g, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic 9 g, grated
• A 3 cm piece of fresh ginger 15 g, grated
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric 2 g
• 2 medium ripe tomatoes 200 g, chopped
• 2 tbsp lemon juice 30 g
• 10 g fresh parsley or coriander a small handful, chopped
• 1 tsp fine salt 5 g, divided

Instructions

 

• If you have time, soak the mung beans in plenty of cold water for 4-8 hours, then drain. Soaking is optional, but it shortens the cooking.
• Rinse the beans and pick out any small stones. Put them in a pot with 1 litre of cold water, bring to the boil, skim off the foam and simmer, partly covered, for 35-45 minutes (up to 50 if not soaked), until the beans are soft and some have split. Add a splash of hot water if it gets too thick.
• At the same time, rinse the rice and put it in a small pot with 500 ml water and a pinch of the salt. Bring to the boil, cover and cook on the lowest heat for 30-35 minutes, until the water is absorbed and the grains are tender. Take it off the heat and leave it covered for 10 minutes.
• For the tadka, heat the ghee in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the cumin and fenugreek seeds and fry for 30-60 seconds, until the cumin darkens a shade and smells toasty. Watch the fenugreek: once it turns dark brown it tastes bitter.
• Add the onion and cook for 6-8 minutes, until soft and golden. Stir in the garlic and ginger for 1 minute, then the turmeric for a few seconds, then the tomatoes. Cook for 5 minutes, until the tomatoes break down.
• Tip the tadka into the dal with the rest of the salt and simmer together for 5 minutes. Off the heat, stir in the lemon juice and most of the herbs. Serve over the rice with the remaining herbs on top.

Keyword brown rice, cumin, dal, fenugreek, ghee, gluten-free, Indian, meal prep, moong dal, mung beans, mung dal, tadka, turmeric, vegetarian, whole mung beans, winter

Nutrition per serving

Per serving, 1/4 of the dal with 1/4 of the rice, calculated from USDA FoodData Central for each ingredient.

Data: USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy: Mung beans, mature seeds, raw (FDC 174256); Rice, brown, long-grain, raw (FDC 169703); Butter, Clarified butter (ghee) (FDC 171314); Onions, raw (FDC 170000); Garlic, raw (FDC 169230); Ginger root, raw (FDC 169231); Tomatoes, red, ripe, raw, year round average (FDC 170457); Spices, turmeric, ground (FDC 172231); Spices, cumin seed (FDC 170923); Spices, fenugreek seed (FDC 171324); Lemon juice, raw (FDC 167747); Parsley, fresh (FDC 170416); Salt, table (FDC 173468). Mung beans and rice are calculated on the dry weight. Coriander is calculated with the values for parsley. The salt line counts only the salt you add. The fenugreek record has no value for sugars, so the sugars line leaves it out (2 g of seeds in the whole pot). Carbohydrate is USDA “by difference” and includes fibre.

Swaps and variations

• Vegan: use 1 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil instead of the ghee. The values above are calculated with ghee.
• Split mung: yellow split mung beans (moong dal) need no soaking and cook faster; start checking from 20 minutes. The nutrition values will be different.
• Greens: stir in 2 handfuls of spinach for the last 5 minutes.
• More heat: add 1 chopped green chilli with the ginger, or a pinch of chilli flakes.
• Asafoetida (hing): a pinch in the hot ghee with the seeds is a traditional addition. If you cook gluten-free, buy one labelled gluten-free, because many blends contain wheat flour.

Storage and reheating

The dal keeps 3 days in a closed container in the fridge, and it freezes well. It thickens as it stands, so add a splash of water when you reheat it. Cool leftover rice quickly, keep it in the fridge, eat it within a day and reheat it until it is steaming hot all the way through.

Related

• Recipes: Kitchari · Chickpea and sweet potato curry · Warm lentil salad with roasted carrots and feta
• Encyclopedia: Mung beans · Brown rice · Ghee · Fenugreek

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