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!