Do you use mung beans? Do you have any recipe recommendations for Sara? She writes:
I had a recipe that called for mung beans and I finally found them in my local Indo-Pak grocery, but I used a small amount of them compared to what I bought! I'd love to get a variety of recipes to try with them.
Other than using them to grow your own sprouts we don't have a lot of good ideas on this one, Sara. Readers, what are your suggestions? Anyone go through lots of mung beans, and if so, for what?
Related: How To Grow Your Own Alfalfa Sprouts: Part One
(Image: Flickr member thrig licensed for use under Creative Commons)

Comments (20)
I have made Indian mung bean soup a few times - it is supposed to be really healing - kind of an Indian "chicken soup" is what I was told in an Indian vegetarian cooking class... There are several good recipes online if you google "Indian Mung Bean Soup". Good luck!
Try this one, my favorite. Simple to make and delicious to taste.
http://www.ifood.tv/recipe/sprout_mung_usal_mung_sprouts
Check out all the Indian food blogs for many ideas. But what I prefer to do with them is a) to make a garlicky dal and b) to make a fresh salad with sprouted mung beans (sprout just until tails are 1/4"), chopped tart apples or green mango, minced chiles, lemon juice, coconut shreds, a small bit of chopped onion and a tarka of oil and popped mustard seeds.
i always use it for sweet mung bean soup, similar to recipe below.. you can use rock sugar instead of white sugar
http://www.eatingchina.com/recipes/mung-bean-soup.htm
Growing up, it was always used as a cold weather soup. Contained spinach and some pork for flavoring and topped over hot white rice.
I'm not sure how to make it, but mung beans are often put in Vietnamese iced tea drinks. Usually some combination of tea, condensed milk and lots of ice.
I like to make them into a sweet mung bean soup as mentioned above. I also add tapioca pearls (that's how my grandmother would make it for me when I was growing up).
i third or fourth the mung bean soup idea, very traditional in china as an easy and refreshing treat for the summer!
All these suggestions sound yummy!
Heidi Swanson just made this last week:
http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/lemon-cucumber-tofu-salad-recipe.html
Here is my wife's awesome recipe for chicken mung bean soup
http://www.urbanhippy.ca/node/14
If you're into curries, make this:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/real_food/article2256727.ece
It calls for mung lentils and not mung beans, but don't let that dissuade you. The first time I made it I had no idea what mung lentils were, so I just went out and bought the first thing I saw that said "mung" on the package- which happened to be beans, not lentils. It was so good I've never bothered trying to find the lentils, and always make this with mung beans.
http://www.kitchenist.com/
it's summer, what about a bean salad?
http://bitten.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/featured-recipe-bean-salad/ for some ideas, make up your own!
The sweet mung (green) bean soup mentioned several times above is the summer complement to the sweet azuki (red) bean soup. Note that this is used as a dessert more than a meal course. Both also benefit from simmering with orange peel.
Another favorite treat is mung bean popsicles -- just pour the soup into popsicle molds.
mung/moong dal made with indian style split mung beans is very good!
make an exotic warm dessert which fills your house with gorgeous scents of pandanus, coconut milk and mung beans simmering. http://lekkertje.blogspot.com/2009/02/bubur-kacang-hijau.html
and you can freeze the leftover as popsicles - a favourite Malaysian treat!
or make mung beans ice cream
Growing up we also had mung beans (and red beans) as dessert. Ice cream or ice blocks even.
Make sprouts of Moong . You can then make salad with these sprouts . I add finely chopped tomatoes , potatoes, cucumber, cooked corn in the salad. for the dressing its pretty basic. salt, pepper some lemon juice, olive oil, and chopped coriander.
Mung dal halwa!!!
http://ashwita.com/recipes/recipes.php?q=Moong Dal Halwa
We make a simple side dish out of them that's like a salad. Boil the beans until soft. In a saucepan, pop some mustard seeds then add green chilis and a diced onion. Cook until the onions are translucent and then add the mung beans to the pan. Shower with lemon juice. I like to serve this salad a little warm.
Try this dessert. It's very popular in Indonesia.
http://www.discover-java-and-bali.com/mung-beans.html