Moong Beans

Ingredients:

Moong beans - 1 cup
oil tempering - peanut oil, black mustard seeds, turmeric (no hing)
Onion - 1 medium chopped fine
Ginger-garlic paste - 1 Tb
Coriander powder - 2 tsp
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Chili powder - to your taste
Kokum ( Garcinia Mangostana L) - 2 pieces (optional for sourness)
If you don't have kokum add 1/4 tsp tamarind paste or squeeze 1/2 lemon while serving (optional)
chopped cilantro leaves - 2-3 tsps
freshly grated coconut - 3-4 Tb (optional)
Gud or brown sugar - 1 Tb
salt to taste.

Recipe:

Remove stones from the beans. Soak beans for at least 2-3 hours. Remove water and tie them in a thin cloth and keep them in a dark place to sprout. (I keep them in my oven).  Check the beans every day. If you don't have time to sprout them cook soaked beans in the pressure cooker.

If you don't have time for soaking the beans, add 1tsp peanut oil in a pan and roast them on the stove on low flame until lightly brown or you smell the aroma of beans. Then wash the beans, add water and cook them in pressure cooker.

Heat pan and add 2 tsp peanut oil.  Prepare oil tempering and add chopped onion and let it cook until
lightly brown. Add cooked moong beans.
Add ginger garlic paste.
Add brown sugar or gud, coriander and cumin powders.
Add chili powder to your taste.
Add kokum or tamarind paste and salt to taste.
Add 1/2 cup water if necessary and cook for 5 minutes.
Sprinkle with cilantro and coconut.
Serve as a side dish with Indian bread, or rice

Notes:

1) I usually cook beans with garlic for evening meals.
2) You can use black eyed peas, lentils, green/white peas, green/red/black chana (garbanzo beans) instead of moong beans.
3) If you don't have time to soak beans like lentil, black eyed peas - dry roast them in a pan on top of stove before cooking.
4) You can sprout almost all the beans before cooking.
5) If I am going to serve them with Indian bread (chapati, roti, naan etc), I cook the beans until most of the water is evaporated. If I am going to serve it with rice I keep more water in them.
6) Add 1 Tb onion-garlic masala instead of ginger garlic paste.