Green Moong (Sabut Moong) and Chilka Moong: Soak, Cook, Digest

Whole green moong needs a 6 to 8 hour soak, then 3 to 4 whistles or 35 to 45 minutes in an open pot. Chilka moong, the split kind with the skin still on, needs only 1 to 2 hours and 2 to 3 whistles. Get the green moong dal soaking time right and the gas, the hard grains and the split skins mostly take care of themselves. Below: which moong is for what, a Pakistani sabut moong salan, a dry version, and what actually helps with gas.

Sabut, chilka and dhuli moong: which is which

One bean. Three shapes. Sabut moong is the whole green bean, chilka moong is the same bean split in half with the green skin still stuck to the yellow inside (so it looks speckled green and yellow), and dhuli moong is split and fully skinned, which gives the plain yellow daal most people know.

The skin is the difference that matters. It holds the fibre, the colour and much of the earthy taste, and it’s also the part that slows cooking and makes some people bloated. So sabut moong is the most filling of the three, and dhuli the gentlest.

Buying green moong

Good sabut moong is a bright, even olive green, the beans roughly the same size, with a faint shine but not a greasy one. Faded, dusty or wrinkled beans are old stock that may never soften properly however long you cook them, and tiny round holes in the beans mean weevils have been in. Skip those. Pick through a cupful on a thaal for stones and shrivelled black beans before you wash it.

Green moong dal soaking time, and what if you forgot

Soak whole green moong for 6 to 8 hours, or overnight, in three times its volume of water. It will roughly double in size. Change the water once if your kitchen is hot, and in summer keep the bowl in the fridge after about 8 hours so it doesn’t turn sour and start to smell.

Forgot to soak? You have two choices. The quick hot soak works well: boil the washed moong in plenty of water for 2 minutes, cover, switch off and leave it for 1 hour, then drain and cook as if soaked. Or cook it straight from dry in the pressure cooker with 1 cup extra water and 5 to 6 whistles, which works but gives more split skins and a little more gas for some people.

Chilka moong only needs 1 to 2 hours. Overnight? Mush.

How many whistles for green moong dal, and the stove method

In a pressure cooker, soaked sabut moong takes 3 to 4 whistles on medium heat with 1 cup moong to 3 cups water, and you then let the pressure drop by itself rather than lifting the weight, because those last 10 minutes of trapped steam are part of the cooking. Chilka moong takes 2 to 3 whistles with the same water. If you want the beans whole for a dry dish, stop at 2 whistles for sabut moong and check; you can always cook more.

No cooker? Here’s the pot method for 1 cup soaked sabut moong.

1. Drain the soaked moong and rinse it once.
2. Put it in a heavy pot with 4 cups (1 litre) water and 1/2 tsp haldi. No salt yet.
3. Boil on high for 5 minutes, skimming any foam.
4. Cover, lower the heat and simmer 35 to 45 minutes, stirring now and then and adding hot water if it runs low.
5. Press a bean. It should squash easily with no hard centre. Then add salt.

Chilka moong in a pot? About 25 to 30 minutes.

Sabut moong salan, the Pakistani way

This is the everyday green moong of Punjabi and Karachi homes, thick, masala-rich and eaten with roti. Serves 4.

1. Cook 1 cup soaked sabut moong in the cooker with 3 cups water, 1/2 tsp haldi and 3 whistles. Keep the cooking water.
2. In a karahi, heat 3 tbsp oil. Fry 1 medium sliced onion until golden, about 8 minutes.
3. Add 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste and fry 1 minute, then 2 chopped tomatoes, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp lal mirch and 1 tsp dhania powder.
4. Bhuno for 6 to 8 minutes, splashing in a little water, until oil shows at the edges.
5. Tip in the moong and its water. Simmer 10 minutes, mashing a few beans against the side to thicken the gravy.
6. Finish with 1/2 tsp garam masala, 2 slit green chillies and hara dhania.

Dry moong (sookhi moong) for lunchboxes

Cook soaked sabut moong for only 2 whistles so the beans stay whole, and drain. Heat 1 tbsp oil, crackle 1/2 tsp zeera, add a chopped green chilli, a pinch of haldi and salt, and toss the moong on high for 3 minutes. Squeeze lemon, add chopped onion and tomato, and it’s close to a chaat. It keeps its shape well in a tiffin.

Why green moong gives more gas, and what helps

Blame the skin. It carries more fibre, and the whole bean also carries more of the sugars our gut can’t digest (oligosaccharides) that gut bacteria ferment into gas. Dhuli moong loses much of that with its skin. That’s why the same person can eat yellow moong daal happily and get bloated on sabut moong salan.

What genuinely helps:

• Soak properly and throw the soaking water away. Some of those gassy sugars leach into the water.
• Cook it fully. Half-cooked beans are the worst offenders.
• Start small. Half a katori a few times a week lets the gut get used to it; people who eat pulses often usually get less gas over time.
• Use hing, zeera and ginger in the tarka. Traditional, cheap and harmless, even if the effect is modest.

For quick relief once the bloating has started, our guide to gas after meals with hing, ajwain and saunf has the details.

Myth: soda in the water is the best fix

A pinch of baking soda does soften skins faster. True. It also dulls the taste, can make the beans mushy and destroys some of the B vitamins, and it isn’t needed if you soak properly. Save it for very old stock.

What a katori gives you, sprouts, and storage

A katori (about 150 g) of cooked sabut moong gives roughly 10 g of protein and nearly as much fibre, around 160 kcal before the oil. That fibre is the big difference from yellow moong. It keeps you full longer, and it’s also the reason to go slow if you’re not used to it.

Green moong is also the easiest pulse to sprout. The step-by-step method, the smell test and the cooking rules are all in moong and chana sprouts at home, so they aren’t repeated here.

Dry sabut moong keeps up to a year in an airtight jar; our daal storage guide covers insects. Soaked moong, drained, keeps 1 day in the fridge. Cooked moong keeps 2 days in the fridge, chilled within 2 hours, or a month in the freezer. More pulse guides are in Grains, Daals & Pulses.

Green moong questions, answered