A recipe for mung bean and tender stem broccoli salad
Sri Lankan salad 1: A mash-up of a salad and a Sri Lankan mallung, equally delicious when eaten hot or cold
Beans are having their moment and I’m not complaining.
A favourite bean, which I don’t eat as much as I should, are mung beans. The de-husked mung bean is the yellow mung (or moong) dal or yellow lentils. With their skins on they are mung bean or mung (or moong) dal.
I have used the whole mung beans to create a mash-up recipe, a hybrid of a salad and a mallung (Sri Lankan stir fried vegetables) which can be eaten as either. Serve cold as a salad and hot as a mallung.
A mallung is a probably the simplest Sri Lankan dish you can make. Vegetables, cabbage, cauliflower, or broccoli (though not limited to these) are stir-fried in a few spices with the addition of coconut and lime juice.
I’ve been eating this salad/mallung throughout June.
I’ve eaten it alongside a curry, the mung beans do a great job of soaking up the curry juices. I’ve eaten this with grilled halloumi cheese, broken and scattered on top. I think feta cheese would work beautifully.
And I’ve packed it into my lunchbox, taken it to work. It makes for a filling salad staving off the hunger pangs rescuing me from the call of the biscuit box.
This recipe will take a little forethought because the whole beans need an overnight soak, and a boil - but it’s definitely worth the effort!
Mung bean and tender stem broccoli salad
Prep time: 45 minutes
Soak time: Overnight
Yields: 4 portions (if serving as a side, or two healthy main portions)
Ingredients
100g dried mung beans
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
2 sprigs of curry leaves stripped from their stems
Finely sliced green chilli (remove seeds for less heat)
1 red onion finely sliced
3 cloves of garlic chopped
1 small piece of ginger (10g) peeled and finely chopped
200g tenderstem broccoli, leaves stripped and finely chopped
¼ teaspoon turmeric
2 tablespoons of desiccated coconut
¼ teaspoon of salt
Juice of a lime
Method
Soak the mung beans overnight, the next day drain and rinse the beans and scoop into a saucepan of salted water (the one I use is 18cm diameter and has 1 ½ litre capacity). Bring to the boil and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes which allows the beans to retain some bite. Scoop off any foam and when done, drain, spoon into a bowl and set aside.
Heat the oil in a frying pan, (I usually use one that’s 29 cms diameter). Add the dry spices, curry leaves and chilli fry until the spices crackle and the curry leaves turn a glossy dark green. Stir in the onions, fry for a minute followed by the garlic and ginger, give them a good stir, continuing until the edges of the onions start to brown.
Tip the chopped broccoli folding them into the onions, cook for about seven to ten minutes, before pouring in your patiently waiting mung beans and toss through. Sprinkle over the turmeric, coconut and salt turn into the beans, finish off with by squeezing in the lime juice and stir through. This salad is equally delicious served warm or cold.
This sounds like a great recipe, I know I should be using the mung beans, but I have some Dahl in the freezer and I think if I used the ingredients to add to the Dahl it may also make a good dish. I have never used mung beans, they do look a bit like lentils in the photo, so could I use puy lentils instead?