delicate summer dal

Serves 4

This recipe is on heavy rotation at the Ayurvedic Wellness Center. We look forward to it as a digestive reset; it’s a meal that, because of the way we temper the spices, is big on flavor, AND easy on digestion. The simplicity of ingredients and cooking technique takes away the stress of having to cook a meal on a weeknight, and the texture and flavor of this dish never fail to comfort.

The mild and delicate qualities of the ingredients used from herbs like coriander and cardamom create a Pitta pacifying flavor profile, while the fenugreek acts as a clearing and cleansing digestive.

Ingredients:

2 cups split yellow mung
4 cups water
2 TBS ghee
1 ½ tsp fenugreek seeds
1 ½ tsp coriander seeds
5-6 cardamom pods
1 tsp cardamom powder
1 tsp turmeric
1 pinch hing/asafoetida
½ cup fresh cilantro
Himalayan mineral salt (to taste, ~1 tsp)

Doshic Adjustments

🅥 🅟 🅚 Enjoy as is

Method:

Soak mung beans overnight and rinse thoroughly.

Tadka, or tempering, involves sautéing or roasting spices to release their aromatic oils and thus enhancing the flavor and depth of a spice. This technique is what gives Indian dishes their amazing flavorful complexity. In a multi-cooker or large pot, add the ghee and sauté the whole spices (fenugreek, coriander, cardamom pods) until they begin to release the aromatics. Then add the spice powders (cardamom powder and hing) and half the cilantro and sauté another 60 seconds.

Then add the soaked and rinsed mung beans and water to the sautéed (tadka-ed) spices. Add the salt, stir, and cook until the mung beans are soft, approximately 30 minutes. Garnish with fresh cilantro and serve.

Mung beans are an Āyurvedic staple, and are one of the easiest foods to digest, and promote detoxification in the GI Tract. This recipe is tri-doshic, and can serve as a jumping off point for you to experiment with your own spicing and flavor profiles.