Khatta moong is traditionally Guajarati Recipe. Whole green moong dal is added in creamy and sour yogurt gravy. This is staple recipe in every Guajarati house hold, but everybody’s version of khatta moong is different. This is how my family makes it and we enjoy it with plain rice or sometimes with Jeera rice. Make sure that yogurt is sour otherwise it doesn’t taste that better. If your yogurt is not sour than keep yogurt outside on kitchen counter for 5-6 hours before you start to make khatta mag. Then it will be sour enough for kadhi or this recipe. This recipe has no root vegetables so this is also a Jain recipe. So let’s see hot to make it.
Khatta Moong (Whole Green Moong Dal)
US measuring cups are used (1 cup = 240 ml)
Ingredients (1 cup = 240 ml)
- ½ cup Whole green moong dal (Green gram dal)
- 1 ½ + 1 cups Water
- 1 ½ cups Plain yogurt (dahi or curd), Sour
- 2 tablespoons Besan (gram flour)
- ¼ teaspoon Turmeric powder
- 2 Green chilies finely chopped
- ½ teaspoon Sugar optional
- Salt to taste
- 3 teaspoons Oil
- ½ teaspoon Mustard seeds
- ½ teaspoon Cumin seeds
- 7-8 Fenugreek seeds (Methi dana)
- 3 Cloves
- 1 inch Cinnamon stick
- 7-8 Curry leaves
Instructions
- Wash whole green moong dal under running cold water till water runs clear. Soak them in warm water for 1 ½ hours.
- Discard soaked water, take moong in pressure cooker and add another 1 ½ cups of water. Add salt, cover the pressure cooker, and put the weight on. Turn on the stove on high heat. Let it whistle once then lower the heat to medium-low and cook it for another 10 minutes. Turn off the stove. Let the pressure go down by itself. Open the cover and keep aside.
- Meanwhile take yogurt, turmeric powder, salt, sugar and besan in a bowl. Mix well.
- Add green chilies and 1 cup of water. Mix it well so there are no lumps. Keep it aside.
- Heat the oil in pan on medium heat. Once hot add mustard seeds. Let them crackle. Then add cumin seeds and methi seeds. Let them sizzle.
- Then add cloves, cinnamon stick. It will give nice fragrance.
- Then add curry leaves.
- Add yogurt mixture. Mix well. Let it come to boil.
- Cook it for 4-5 minutes or until besan is cooked.
- Add boiled moong. (add water if you like thinner consistency)
- Mix it well. And cook it for 3-4 minutes.
- Serve hot.
Notes
- Make sure that your yogurt is sour enough. If not than keep it on kitchen counter for 5-6 hours and it will become sour.
- Adjust the water as per you liking consistency.
- Serve with plain rice or Jeera rice.
Lovely recipe. Thanx to Gujerati cuisine of Mother India. 🙏
thank you
Youghurt curdles when added, how to fix that?
When you add yogurt, keep the gas flame low. Or turn off the stove, let it cool for 2 minutes and then add yogurt mixture. It will not curdle.
Also make sure to stir all the time while it is boiling, it prevents the curdling.
Once it curdles, this can’t be fixed.
Hi Kanan. This is great! Is there a vegetable dish you would recommend to go with? Also is the soaking of the dal just to save on cooking time or for some health reason? I didn’t have time so I skipped it.
You can use any dry vegetable side dish from this list –>> https://www.spiceupthecurry.com/category/subzis/
Pre-soaking the beans will reduce the cooking time. This reduced cooking time can mean less loss of water-soluble nutrients due to less time of exposure to heat and water. this is the reason, I prefer soaking them.
I am not Indian, but I love indian food, and this recipe was sooo good. Thanks for posting this, I’d never made (or realized there was) dal with yogurt before. Delicious and comforting.
Happy that it is helpful,
this is a very simple recipe
Thank you Renu
omg i’ve never made anything like this before. i was using new ingredients in new ways, and i was so worried that it was going to come out weird. i used buttermilk and sour cream instead of yogurt. i was so worried i had messed it up. but once i added the moong beans and let it simmer for a few minutes, i tasted it and it was EXQUISITE. i mean, like, wow! lol seriously we could not believe that we had made something so new to us and delicious from scratch! thanks for sharing the recipe.
The buttermilk and sour cream you used is proper substitute of yogurt. So you have not messed up. 🙂 Very happy to hear that you liked this dal and enjoyed.
This is so delicious! The yogurt really carries flavor sooo well, and it’s very satisfying! Thank you so much 🙂
Glad to hear that you liked the moong curry.
i don’t remember clearly, but i think i have had khatta moong before. i will try making this and have bookmarked the recipe.
Try it, you will definitely like this.