This high-fiber mung soup is a complete meal with hearty vegetables and protein-rich, easy-to-digest mung lentils with peel, seasoned and cooked to perfection.
Ingredients: (makes 4 servings)
- Chhilka Mung dhal (split green gram lentil with peel) (slightly less than 1/2 cup)
- Roughly chopped vegetables (carrots, zucchini – light and dark green, broccoli, kale or any greens of your choice, tomato, spring onion) (2 heaped cupfuls)
- Dried Italian seasoning (1/2 tsp)
- Ghee (1 tbsp)
- Black pepper powder (to taste)
- Sea salt (to taste)
- Cumin (jeera) powder (1/2 tsp)
Method:
- Wash and soak the mung lentils for as much time as you can spare. Pressure cook the dhal until well done and mushy. I usually cook for 3 whistles and leave it for 7 minutes on simmer.
- In a heavy bottomed pan, heat ghee on medium flame. Add Italian seasoning and spring onion whites and saute for a minute or so.
- Add the remaining chopped vegetables, pepper, cumin, and salt. Mix well.
- Cook covered (adding water as necessary) till the vegetables are almost cooked.
- Add cooked and mashed mung lentils to the vegetables.
- Adjust the water level, salt and spices, and bring it to a boil.
Tastes (Rasa):
Sweet (mung, carrots, zucchini), sour (tomatoes), salty (sea salt), bitter (kale, Italian herbs), pungent (black pepper, cumin), astringent (kale, Italian herbs, zucchini).
Doshic Influence:
Mung lentils are tridoshic and the most easily digestible among all lentils. Using the mung with peel packs on the fiber as well. The vegetables are a good mix of root vegetables, greens, water rich vegetables and a good blend of different tastes as well, which again makes the dish increasingly tridoshic. Ghee is great for digestion and is also tridoshic. Kaphas can also enjoy ghee, but in moderate amounts. Black pepper and cumin add to the digestibility quotient of the soup. All in all, this is a great tridoshic, one-pot meal soup, that can be enjoyed in all seasons by all constitutions and ages!
Effects on the Mind (Gunas):
This is a sattvic food which doesn’t load the digestion and provides satiety to the body and mind, without causing stimulation (rajas) or dullness (tamas).