Instructions: Mung beans or green gram are the most versatile of all the lentils. They are used in panipoorie a roadside snack of crisp hollow fritters filled with boiled potatoes sprouted mung beans and tangy chutneys. At the opposite end of the range they are cooked over a low heat with generous amounts of clarified butter or ghee sugar nuts and spices to make one of the richest desserts ever created. Bean sprouts commonly available everywhere are actually sprouted mung beans and are easy to grow at home.

how they grow

The small mung bean plant grows all over India as a rain fed crop. The beans which grow inside pods are threshed out after the pods are dried either on the plant or in the sun. Mung beans are left in their skin or split. There is also a variety which is split but left in the skin.

appearance and taste
Whole mung beans or green gram are small oval and olive green in colour. When split they are small flattish and yellow. Whole mung beans have a stronger flavour than the split ones. They are rather chewy and musky. The yellow split mung beans are extremely easy to cook need no soaking and are easy to digest.

buying and storing
The whole beans and split ones are quite different and are seldom interchangeable so you will need to get both depending on what you plan to make. Store in airtight containers for up to 4 months.

medicinal and other uses
Split mung beans are recommended boiled and mashed for babies as an easily digestible source of protein. They are also useful in geriatric and convalescent diets.

culinary uses
Whole mung beans need soaking to reduce cooking time. Split mung beans are soaked overnight and ground with water to make a batter for pancakes and fritters. To sprout mung beans wash in several changes of water. Then put them into a dish with just enough water to cover them and leave the dish in a warm place. Change the water every morning and night for 12 days By this time the beans will have sprouted. The smaller the sprouts the better the flavour. In India lentils and pulses are sprouted by soaking them ovemight and then wrapping them in a wet cloth for a day.

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