Posts tagged mung beans
The other grean bean – Curry Mung beans galettes and tofu-garlic dipping sauce
Jul 19th
L’autre haricot vert – Galettes de haricots mung au curry, et sauce tofu à l’ail
I don’t often cook with mung beans, but once in a while I like to eat them, they’re so cute and round and tiny with a little white eye staring at you.
Of course, I didn’t grow up eating those beans since they’re mainly used in Asian cuisine, and growing up Asian cuisine was not part of my diet.
I remember in Nancy, the first time I ate Asian food, was in a Vietnamese restaurant, the only one in town, I must have been 13 year old (so it’s been a long time!), it was located in a gallery (and still is).
Then I used crab mushrooms, as an accompaniment, those look like beech mushrooms to me, but they seem to be different. I saw a box of crab mushroom at the Asian store, next to a box of beech mushrooms so I came to the conclusion that they’re two different kinds of mushrooms. If I am wrong, please let me know. I would love to know.
The exciting part of this dish is that it’s vegan…and absolutely delicious. The tofu dipping sauce is so creamy and fragrant that the non-tofu friendly crowd will forget it’s tofu. I used regular tofu but silken tofu would be even better. Do not be intimidated by tofu, it’s such a versatile little ingredients and due to its neutral flavor, you can create so many dipping sauces an have a tofu makeover session! it’s so much fun to play with it!
Ingredients for about 10-12 galettes
For the galettes
- 170 g dried mung beans
- 1 shallot, chopped
- 1 poblano pepper, finely diced
- 1 carrot, shredded
- 1 leek, finely chopped
- 1 tsp curry powder
- a dash of soy sauce
- 2 tsp roasted sesame seeds
- 2 tbs mint, chopped
- 1 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
For the mushrooms
- 1 box of crab mushrooms
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 tsp mirin
- 1 shallot, chopped
- 1 tbs cilantro, chopped
For the tofu dipping sauce
- 1/4 lb tofu
- 2 tbs soy yogurt
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 tsp soy sauce
Preparation
For the galettes
Cook mung beans in water until tender. Drain well and let cool. Mash with a potato masher or with your hands.
Heat olive oil in a pan, add shallots and brown them. Add peppers, and leeks and cook until tender. Add carrots and stir for a few minutes. Add curry powder, stir well and cook for a few more minutes until all the vegetables are coated with the curry powder. Add soy sauce and stir.
Add the vegetables to the mashed mung beans and mix well to obtain a homogenous mixture. Add sesame seeds and mint. Form patties usig your hands. Coat each patty with panko crumbs.
Heat olive oil in a pan, place each galette in the pan and cook both sides until golden brown. remove from pan and serve hot with crab mushrooms and tofu sauce.
For the crab mushrooms
Was mushroom and disassemble them. In a pan, heat olive oil, add onion, ginger and cook the mixture until fragrant, then add garlic and cook for a few extra minutes. Add mushrooms, stir well, then add mirin. Cook until the mushrooms are cooked but still moist. Add cilantro.
For the tofu dipping sauce
Place tofu and other ingredients in a blender, and blend until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
A soothing trio – Shrimps chermoula with mung beans and red kale, red bell peppers
Nov 19th
Un trio appaisant – Crevettes en chermoula, haricots mungo et chou frisé aux poivrons
Some days, you just feel like something hearty, healthy with lost of flavors…so I decided to finally cook those mung beans I had for a while in my pantry. They’re round with a bright green color, they’re very nourishing while being very light to digest. In India, they’re used in Ayurvedic cooking. In some other parts of Asia, they are used in sweet dishes and pastes but I like them cooked as the Indian Moong Dhal and eat them as a side dish. Actually, mung beans are green with the husk, when dehusked they’re yellow and they’re used and called Moong Dhal in Indian cuisine .
Chermoula is a Moroccan mixture or paste to be more accurate of parsley and cilantro with various spices and is used on fish, or meat to enhance its flavor. It’s tangy and so flavorful that is a delight on anything. I love it even on toasted bread. There are so many variations of chermoula recipes. Some recipes include red onions, some have more cilantro than parsley, some add chili. So to each its own, now it must to always have cumin and garlic.
This whole dish combination has a nice exotic twist and the kale makes it very well balanced. The kale is simply enhanced by red bell peppers, garlic and onions which enhance the whole dish without adding too many complicated flavors to it, since chermoula and dhal are quite flavorful. I am not sure why this kale is called red kale, since there is nothing red in it and is called “chou frisé” in French (curly kale), and there is nothing curly in it either. Actually I don’t know if it’s the accurate name but that’s what it said on the label. I think sometimes labels are confusing.
I soaked the beans for about 4 hours in water, but they cook quite quickly so that is not necessary. I always count about 2.46 oz (or 70 g) per person of rice or beans as a side dish, you might want to add more.
Ingredients for 4
For the mung beans
- 10.60 oz (or 300 g) mung beans
- 2 tsp ginger, grated
- 2 garlic, crushed
- 1 tsp turmeric
- salt and pepper
For the shrimps
- 24 large tiger shrimps, peeled and deveined
- 1 bunch parsley
- 1/2 bunch cilantro
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tbs lemon zest
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
For the kale
- 2 bunches red kale, stems removed
- 1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
- 1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
- 2 large ripe tomatoes, peeled and seedless
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- one pinch cayenne pepper
- salt and pepper
Preparation
For the mung beans
Cook the beans in water and add ginger, garlic, turmeric and salt. Let it simmer and add water if necessary, they will absorb a lot of it, so keep checking it. When the beans are soft and tender but not mushy, remove from the pan.
For the shrimps
Place all ingredients in a mixer and mix to a fine consistency but not like a paste, you need to see pieces of herbs. remove and keep aside. Marinate the shrimps with half of this mixture and refrigerate for about 3 hours minimum. In a wok, heat olive oil, saute shrimps, then when the shrimps are half cooked, add the rest of the chermoula and stir well.
For the kale
Bring water to a boil, and cook kale for about 5-7 minutes until tender. Drain excess water, set aside and let it cool. Chop roughly.
In a pan, heat olive oil, add onions and let it brown, add bell peppers, cover and cook for about 10 minutes. Add tomatoes, garlic, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper, and let cook until the tomatoes are cooked and water evaporated. Add kale and saute in the tomato/red pepper fondue. Drizzle with olive oil and dress in plate.
