If you’re like me and bought a bunch of whole green mung beans for sprouting, you may now be wondering, “What else can I do with these mung beans?” I have the solution for you, and it comes in the form of a nourishing springtime soup recipe.
With cooling green mung beans and coconut milk, this delightful soup can help build strong, healthy tissue after your seasonal cleanse. Combined with delicious warming spices and vegetables, it creates a well-balanced meal that can easily be tweaked to cater to a specific dosha.
Cooking with digestive spices brings a lighter quality to heavy foods so that they’re easier to digest, absorb, and assimilate.
In this recipe, the warming qualities of ginger, hing, turmeric, and Thai chilis kindle agni, the digestive fire, so your body can more effectively break down the rich protein of the mung beans and the healthy fat of the coconut milk.
Green Mung Beans and The Doshas
Whole green mung beans, also called green gram, are considered to be sattvic and very nutritious—especially for pitta dosha. With their wholesome and cooling nature, you can continue to enjoy these legumes into the summer months, and those with a pitta imbalance may find this recipe to be particularly rejuvenative and soothing—especially if you follow the pitta modifications listed below.
Despite their cooling nature, whole green mung beans also help to balance vata dosha—especially when delivered in the form of this moist and unctuous soup with warming spices.
While green mungs are generally considered tridoshic (good for all three doshas), they can increase kapha dosha if eaten in excess, due to their heavy and dense qualities. If you’re noticing a kapha imbalance such as occasional congestion, brain fog, lethargy, or low appetite, opt for well-spiced split yellow mung dal or grains like millet and barley until you feel your body lighten.
Once your appetite becomes strong and steady, you’ll know it’s time to try this recipe.
The Perfect Post-Cleanse Meal
If you want to ensure that your body is ready to receive as much goodness as possible from this rejuvenating green mung bean soup, try making it for yourself after you’ve completed an Ayurvedic cleanse.
Ayurvedic cleansing creates a lightness in the body that naturally increases the appetite and allows for more effective metabolization of tissue-building foods. A strong appetite signals that your agni is robust and ready to break down the nourishing foods that fuel ojas—the vital essence of resilience within us.
A Hearty Alternative to Split Mung Dal
This recipe is a heartier alternative to the classic split yellow mung dal recipe and should be called upon when you have a steady sense of hunger. I absolutely love yellow split mung dal, especially when my appetite is low or variable.
But when I’m feeling more fire in my being, green mung really does the trick.
For me, a well-spiced lentil soup is the ultimate comfort food and I like having a few variations on hand to meet the needs of my appetite, my doshas, and the season. When I’m wanting something grounding, nourishing, and creamy with a little texture, this soup does not disappoint.
Green Mung Bean Soup Recipe for Spring
Ingredients
- 1–2 tablespoons ghee
- ¼ teaspoon mustard seeds
- ¼ teaspoon cumin seeds
- ¼ teaspoon nigella seeds
- ¼ teaspoon ajwain seeds
- Pinch of hing/asafoetida (optional)
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon garam masala powder
- 3 slices fresh ginger, julienned into thin strips
- 1 bay leaf
- 1–2 cardamom pods
- 1–2 Thai chilis, chopped finely
- 1 carrot, diced
- ½ onion, diced
- 1 cup whole green mung beans
- 5 cups water or broth
- 1 can full-fat coconut milk
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Lime for garnish
- Fresh herbs for garnish (optional)
Directions
Soak mung beans in water overnight or for at least four hours. Drain and rinse before cooking.
Melt ghee over medium heat in a large pot. Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, nigella seeds, and ajwain seeds. Toast for about one minute until you hear the seeds start to pop. Stir often to prevent burning.
Stir in the ground turmeric, hing, and garam masala powder and toast for another 15 seconds. Add fresh ginger, bay leaf, 1–2 cardamom pods, and 1–2 thai chilis. Stir another minute.
Add diced onion and carrot and sauté for 3–4 minutes. If things are sticking or becoming too brown, turn the heat to low and add more ghee.
Finally, mix in the soaked and rinsed mung beans. Stir to coat the mung beans completely.
Pour in water or broth and bring to a boil. Turn heat to low and simmer, partially covered, for 20–30 minutes or until mung beans are tender.
Mix in coconut milk and salt. Garnish with a squeeze of lime and any fresh herbs you happen to have on hand. Enjoy!
Dosha Modifications
Vata
- Use only one Thai chili or remove the seeds
- Stir in 1–2 cups of spinach before serving
- Top with cilantro, parsley, and lemon
Pitta
- Use diced fennel bulb instead of onion
- Omit the Thai chilis
- Top with cilantro, dill, and fennel fronds
Kapha
- Use light coconut milk instead of full-fat
- Stir in 1–2 cups of finely chopped kale before serving
- Top with parsley, basil, and sauerkraut
- Try using sprouted mung beans to make your soup