Green Moong bean is the seed of Vigna radiate from the Leguminosae family also known by various names like Moong Dal, Moong, Mongo, Golden Gram Bean, Munggo, Mug Dal, Mung, Green Soy Bean, Green Bean, Mash bean, Pesara in Telugu, Paira in Tamil and ludou in Chinese.
The green moong bean is native to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The bean is green with the husk and yellow when dehusked. They are small, ovoid in shape and the English mung derives its name from the Hindi word mung. Mung bean has enjoyed a long history of food and medicinal uses, with a written record dating back to the 10th century A.D. Its best known use is the treatment of poisoning of various types, including foods (e.g., mushroom) and herbal drugs (e.g., aconite).
In modern times this use has extended to industrial and environmental poisoning (pesticides, heavy metals, etc.). Some of these treatments have been reported in Chinese herbal and traditional medical journals in recent years. Mung Beans are a small, oval type of green bean that is high in fiber and when the bean is split in half it is referred to as moong dal. It is extensively used in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, China, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries. It is also cultivated in hot and dry regions of southern USA and Europe.
The green beans are commonly used in Chinese cooking as well as other Asian cuisines and are generally eaten whole or as bean sprouts. They are also used to make the dessert Green Bean Soup. The starch is also commonly extracted and used to make jellies and cellophane noodles.
Green beans sprouts have become very popular and are eaten either as salad or as sprouts as they are very high in fiber. Mung Beans (Vigna radiata) are small 1/4 inch, round, olive green bean. The inside of a Mung Bean is dark mustard colored.
When husked and split, the Green Mung Bean becomes known in India as the Yellow Mung, Moong Dal. Mung Beans are used in a variety of forms; whole, peeled, split or ground. Mung Beans are also known as Sabut Moong, Mung Pea etc.
Mung Beans have a sweet flavor, soft texture, and are easy to digest. These beans are sprouted to produce bean sprouts, which contain vitamin C, not found in the dry bean. Mung Beans have a long history in India where they originated and were introduced to China many centuries ago.
Mung Beans have a long history in India where they originated and were introduced to China many centuries ago. Mung Beans are the most common beans to be sprouted in Asia, Europe and America. Mung Bean Flour is used to make bean threads or noodles.
Mung beans are light yellow in color when their skins are removed and they can be made into a paste by dehulling, cooking and pulverizing the beans to a dry paste. In India, a very popular savory snack called the dal moth is prepared by using mung beans.
The method involves using dried mung beans that have been soaked in water, and then partly drying them to a dry matter content of about 42%. Afterwards, they are deep-fried for about 60-90 seconds in hot oil. The snack has about 20% of fat content. The snack is traditionally prepared at home and also available commercially in the markets. Mung beans in some regional cuisines of India are stripped of their outer coats to make delicious dal with mung dal.
In Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, the whole beans are soaked in water for few hours, steamed and then are seasoned with spices and fresh grated coconut in a preparation called Sundal. In south Indian states, mung beans are also eaten as pancakes.
They are soaked in water for six to 12 hours (the higher the temperature, the lesser soaking time). Then they are ground into fine paste along with ginger, green chillies and salt. Then pancakes are made on a very hot griddle. These are usually eaten for breakfast. They are popularly known as the Pesarattu in Telugu. This provides high quality protein in a raw form that is rare in most Indian regional cuisines.
Pongal or khichdi are the other two popular recipes that are made with rice and mung beans (yellow mung dal) without skin. In Kerala, it is commonly used to make the parippu preparation in the Travancore region (unlike Cochin and Malabar, where toor dal, tuvara parippu, is used).
It is also used, with coconut milk and jaggery, to make a type of payasam. Although whole mung beans are also occasionally used in Indian cuisine, beans without skins are more commonly used; but in Kerala, whole moong dal (cheru payaru) is commonly boiled to make a dry preparation often served with rice gruel (kanji).
Mung beans are extensively used in Chinese cuisine as well as in Burma, Thailand, Japan, Korea, Phillippines. In Chinese cuisine, whole mung beans are used to make a tangshui, or dessert, otherwise literally translated, "sugar water", called ludou tangshui, which is served either warm or chilled.
In Indonesia, they are made into a popular dessert snack called es kacang hijau, which has the consistency of porridge. The beans are cooked with sugar, coconut milk, and a little ginger. In the Philippines, it is the main ingredient of the dessert hopiang munggo.
A savory soup called ginisang monggo, made of mung beans and shrimp, is normally served on Friday evenings, as the majority of the Filipino population is Roman Catholic, and traditionally abstain from meat on Fridays, even outside of Lent.
Mung bean sprouts are germinated by leaving them watered with four hours of daytime light and spending the rest of the day in the dark. Mung bean sprouts can be grown under artificial light for four hours over the period of a week. They are usually simply called bean sprouts.
Mung bean sprouts are stir-fried as a Chinese vegetable accompaniment to a meal, usually with ingredients such as garlic, ginger, spring onions, or pieces of salted dried fish to add flavor. Uncooked bean sprouts are used in filling for Vietnamese spring rolls, as well as a garnish for pho.
In the Philippines, mung bean sprouts are made into lumpia rolls called lumpiang togue. Mung bean sprouts are the major bean sprouts in most Asian countries. In China and Korea, soybean sprouts, called kongnamul are more widely used in a variety of dishes.
Green moong / mung beans are nature's best offering for vegetarians. High in protein and yet easily digestible with the bonus of extra fiber makes this a super food. Besides, Ayurveda considers Mung beans as one of the very few foods which balances all three doshas.
Palak Moong dal fry, a very versatile dish that pairs superbly with rotis / puris / bread or rice. A bowl of yoghurt comes handy to cool of the spicy overtones. Food is a very important part in ones life and to balance it out one must think of eating healthy food hence it’s very important to incorporate salads in our daily meals. Green moong bean sprouts salad is a very refreshing and healthy salad.
Dal when sprouted turn out to be sweeter and this combo goes well with cucumbers, lemon and green chilli. Mung bean possesses detoxicant, heat dispersing, diuretic, and hypolipemic properties. The most common traditional uses of mung bean include heat rash, prickly heat, summer heat syndrome (restlessness, irritability, thirst, etc.), heatstroke, food and drug poisoning, "toxic" conditions (erysipelas, carbuncles, boils, swellings, sores, etc.).
Although a common food in China, mung bean is often eaten with therapeutic intentions. It is especially popular in summer when it is eaten to prevent heatstroke, heat rash or prickly heat. Mung bean sprouts contain rich quantities of Vitamin A, B, C and E.
They are also known to be an excellent source of many minerals, such as calcium, iron and potassium. The bean is the perfect food for reducing weight.It is recommended as a food replacement in many slimming programs, as it has a very low fat content.
It is a rich source of protein and fiber, which helps one to lower the high cholesterol level in the blood system. The high fiber content of mung beans yields complex carbohydrates, which aid digestion. Complex carbs are also effective in stabilizing blood sugar and prevent its rapid rise after meal consumption, apart from keeping body’s energy at a balanced level. Those who suffer from diabetes or high cholesterol are recommended frequent consumption of mung bean.
The nutritional values per 100 g of raw mature moong dal beans are:
Energy: 1452 Kj (347 kcal)
Carbohydrates: 62.62 g
Sugars: 6.60 g
Dietary fiber: 16.3 g
Fat: 1.15 g
Protein: 23.86 g
Vitamin C: 4.8 mg
Calcium: 132 mg
Magnesium: 189 mg
Phosphorus: 367 mg
Potassium: 1246 mg
Sodium: 15 mg