Yellow Moong Dal (Dhuli Moong): Soaking, Whistles and Tarka

You don’t need to soak yellow moong daal. Wash it well, cook 1 cup of daal in 3 cups of water, and it’s soft in 2 whistles or about 25 minutes in an open pot. This guide on how to cook yellow moong dal adds the water ratios for thin and thick daal, a hing and zeera tarka, the reason it foams, and how long it keeps.

Do you need to soak yellow moong dal?

No. Yellow moong (dhuli moong) is the whole green moong bean with its skin removed and the seed split in half, and since the skin is the part that keeps water out, the soft yellow inside drinks water fast and cooks sooner than any daal except red masoor.

A short soak helps in two cases. Soak 20 to 30 minutes if you want a silky daal with no grainy bits, or if the daal is old stock that cooks unevenly. Longer is pointless. After an hour in summer it goes soft and slightly sour at the edges.

Always wash it, though. Rub it between your fingers in 3 or 4 changes of water until the water runs nearly clear, and pick loose market daal over on a thaal first, because small stones hide in it.

Buying good yellow moong

Look for one even, soft yellow colour, few broken pieces and no powder at the bottom of the pack. A glassy shine means the daal has been polished with oil or water to look fresh, which can hide old stock, so give it an extra wash in warm water. Colour that rubs off on your fingers or turns the soaking water bright yellow is a warning sign. Only a lab can prove added dye. Change shops.

How to cook yellow moong dal without a pressure cooker

An open pot gives you the most control over texture. This makes 5 to 6 katoris of medium daal.

1. Wash 1 cup (200 g) yellow moong and soak 20 minutes if you have time. Drain.
2. Put it in a heavy pot with 3.5 cups (875 ml) water, 1/2 tsp haldi and 1 tsp oil.
3. Boil on high. Skim the white foam off for the first 5 minutes.
4. Simmer on low, half covered, stirring every 5 minutes: 15 to 20 minutes soaked, 20 to 25 unsoaked.
5. It’s done when a grain crushes to paste between thumb and finger with no white centre.
6. Add 1 tsp salt, whisk 30 seconds with a ghotni for a smooth daal, and loosen with hot water, 1/4 cup at a time.

Salt goes in at the end simply because a daal that reduces is easy to over-salt.

How many whistles for yellow moong dal in a pressure cooker

Two whistles on medium heat. That’s the usual answer, and it works in most 3 to 5 litre cookers.

1. Add 1 cup washed daal, 3 cups (750 ml) water (2.5 cups for thick), 1/2 tsp haldi and 1 tsp oil.
2. Close the lid, heat on high until it hisses, then drop to medium.
3. Count 2 whistles unsoaked, 1 whistle soaked.
4. Switch off and let the pressure fall by itself, about 10 minutes, then whisk and salt.

For a very soft daal for an elderly parent, 3 whistles is plenty; beyond that it catches at the bottom. Never fill the cooker more than half full with daal and water, because moong foam can rise into the vent and block it, and if water sprays from the lid or the whistle sounds weak, check our guide to pressure cooker whistle and gasket safety before cooking again.

Water ratio: thin, thick and everyday daal

Water decides the daal. These ratios are for 1 cup of dry daal, using the same cup for both.

Daal thickens as it cools and sets almost solid overnight in the fridge, so make it a little looser than you want to eat it and loosen leftovers with a splash of hot water as they heat. Never cold water.

A hing and zeera tarka for moong daal

Moong is mild, so the tarka carries the flavour.

1. Heat 1.5 tbsp ghee or oil on medium. Add 1 tsp zeera and let it crackle, about 20 seconds.
2. Add a small pinch of hing (enough to cover a knife tip) and 2 dry red chillies. Stir 5 seconds.
3. Add 3 sliced garlic cloves and 1 tsp grated ginger, and fry until the garlic is pale gold, not brown.
4. For a fuller tarka, fry 1 chopped onion golden first, then 1 chopped tomato for 3 minutes.
5. Pour it over the daal, cover for a minute, and finish with hara dhania and lemon.

Skip the onion and garlic and it still tastes complete. Ghee, zeera, hing, ginger and chilli are enough.

Why moong daal foams, and other small problems

The white froth is proteins and soap-like plant compounds (saponins) washing out of the daal as it heats. Harmless. Messy, though, and in a cooker it can climb into the vent, which is why you skim it in the first minutes and add a teaspoon of oil to break the bubbles.

• Burnt at the bottom: too little water or too high a flame. Pour the top into a clean pot and leave the burnt layer.
• Still hard after 30 minutes: old daal or hard water. Add hot water and keep going; soak next time.
• Tastes flat: it usually wants salt, lemon or a sharper tarka, not more masala.

What a katori gives you, honestly

One katori of medium daal, made from about 35 g of dry moong, gives roughly 8 g of protein, a few grams of fibre and around 120 to 130 kcal before the tarka. It’s a cheap everyday protein. With rice or roti it makes a fuller meal, and that’s all it needs to be.

Myth: moong daal is only for sick people

Because it’s the khichdi daal of fever days, many families call moong “bimaar ka khana”. It’s light because the skin is gone and it cooks soft. That makes it good for a weak stomach, not less of a meal for everyone else. For the sick-day version, use our moong dal khichdi recipe and red flags.

Myth: bright yellow daal is always dyed

The inside of the moong bean is naturally pale yellow. What should worry you is colour that comes off.

Gas and babies

Skinned moong is usually the gentlest daal on the stomach. If it still bloats you, cook it fully and eat a smaller katori before giving up on it; our guide to bloating and gas after meals covers the rest. For babies, very soft mashed moong with no salt is a common first daal from 6 months, and the site’s weaning plan gives portions.

Storing dry and cooked moong daal

Dry moong keeps 6 to 12 months in an airtight jar away from heat and damp; the methods in our atta and daal weevil guide keep insects out. Cooked daal goes into the fridge within 2 hours of cooking and keeps 2 days there, or about a month frozen in small tubs, and you should reheat only what you’ll eat, until it’s steaming all the way through. Once only. More guides sit in Grains, Daals & Pulses.

Yellow moong dal questions people ask