How To Make Urad (Black Mungo Beans)

Hello everyone, it’s so lovely to see you.

I wanted to tell you all about one of the favourite dishes in our household.

From a very early age, my girls have always loved urad and urad ni dahl (split urad), so I thought I should definitely put the recipe up.

Traditionally, urad is always made on a Saturday as it’s the holy day of Lord Hanuman, the Hindu god. My grandma said that by eating urad, Hanuman became strong, so as a sign of respect urad is only made on his holy day. Lots of Hindus still follow this tradition but, really you can eat urad on any day you fancy. It’s full of protein, so just like Hanuman it'll help to make you strong too 😊

I make urad in a very traditional way, without a lot of fuss, so it’s a very simple recipe with basic ingredients, however, you can add garlic, onions, garam masala if you’d like to, I prefer my urad simple.

You can also substitute the whole urad for split urad with the skins on, this will take less time to cook. I did use split urad when my pressure cooker didn’t cook stuff too well, and it turned out great.

I hope you will try this recipe, it’s one of my favourites when I’m craving a comfort food.

Serves: 4

Soaking Time: 1 – 24 hour

Cooking Time (with a pressure Cooker): 20 mins

Cooking Time (w/o pressure cooker): 1½ - 2 hours

INGREIDENTS:

• 225g urad dahl

• ¾ tin of tomatoes (blended)

• 1 tbsp cooking oil (rapeseed, sunflower, vegetable) or ghee

• 1 tsp whole mustard seeds

• ¼ tsp asafoetida

• 1 tsp cayenne powder

• ½ tsp turmeric powder

• ¾ tsp cumin/coriander powder

• 1 tsp salt

• Juice of half a lemon

• Ghee (or butter or vegan butter) to serve (optional)

• Chopped coriander for garnish (optional)

• Lemon wedges to serve (optional)

METHOD:

First of all, soak the urad either overnight (best if you’re not using a pressure cooker) or at least 1 hour.

If you’re not using a pressure cooker:

1. Put the urad and about 300ml water in a pan and bring to the boil.

2. Turn down the heat and simmer for around 1-1½ hours with a lid on the pan, you may need to increase or decrease the time depending on how long you soaked the urad for and/or how old the urad is, so time may vary.

3. Simmer until the urad is well done, so that it can be squashed between your finger and thumb easily - if testing like this, be careful not to burn yourself, just put a spoonful into a small bowl and wait for it to cool enough before testing. You will also be able to see that the whole urad have split and some of the skins may have separated from the lentil.

Continue with steps below, missing out step 3

If you’re using a pressure cooker:

1. Put the oil in the pan together with the mustard seeds and asafoetida. Wait for the mustard seeds to crackle and add the ginger and green chillies. Stir for a minute and then add the tomatoes.

2. Add the cayenne, turmeric and cumin/coriander powder. Add the salt and mix together and let the mixture cook for 2 minutes, or until the tomatoes have darkened in colour. Add the urad

3. Mix everything together and close the lid of the pressure cooker. Cook for 10-15 minutes, start with 10 minutes and if the urad hasn’t cooked enough, pressure cook for a further 5 minutes. You should be able to see that the whole urad has split and some of the skins may have separated from the lentil and urad should be able to be squashed easily between your finger and thumb – if testing like this, be careful not to burn yourself, just put a spoonful into a small bowl and wait for it to cool enough before testing.

4. Add the lemon juice and taste to make sure seasoning is ok, add a little more salt if required, if cooking without the pressure cooker, simmer for about 5 minutes.

5. At this stage you can mix in some ghee or butter (vegan butter, if you are dairy-free), this will make the urad creamy.

6. Sprinkle over some chopped coriander and serve with wedges of lemon.

TIPS:

• Use split urad (with the skins) for a smoother texture and shorter cooking time

• Making this into a vegan dish is great, so everyone can enjoy it and it tastes exactly the same!

• If you’re not vegan, you can use ghee instead of oil when doing the tempering.

• Serve with chapattis, naan, rice or even toast. Amazing as a bowl of soup too.

• Homemade yoghurt is great with urad too or if you don’t have homemade, then Greek yoghurt or a vegan variety is tasty too.

An Indian meal of urad is normally eaten with rotla traditionally, which is a flatbread made of millet flour, it’s an acquired taste (a bit like marmite). Personally, I love rotla. In the village where my grandma came from, urad was a staple eaten every Saturday with rotla, made in the simplest way over an open fire, nothing fancy 😊

I hope you give making urad a go, it can be the most comforting and filling bowl of goodness.

Let me know if you tried the recipe or if you already have your own way of making urad, I'd love to know how you make yours. If you have any questions, please leave a comment and I'll get back to you. Also, don't forget to send the link for Mumnums to your friends and family, it'd be great to see them here too 😘

Until next time, happy cooking 💖

See method in pictures below: