Instant Pot Mung Bean Curry

Instant pot mung bean curry using dry whole green mung beans (green moong dal), tomatoes and spices is very delicious, quick and super easy to make with very minimal efforts. This vegetarian & vegan Indian style green moong dal curry is best enjoyed with a bowl of rice, but you can also enjoy this as a delicious & nutritious mung bean soup or stew by making minor variations.

what is mung beans?

Mung beans is also known as moong dal, monggo beans etc and it is widely used in many Asian cuisines.

The whole beans with skin is green in color and it is completely edible including it's skin. Unlike many other beans, mung beans is too easy to cook and it only takes few minutes to cook in the instant pot pressure cooker. The whole mung beans is green in color because of the presence of it's skin. However, when the skin is removed it looks yellow in color and the yellow mung beans which is also known as yellow moong dal is also very popularly used in Indian cooking, especially to make dishes like moong dal fry. Mung beans is a very good source of vegetarian & vegan, plant based protein.

You can read more about mung beans here.

Mung beans is used in a lot of recipes which are easy, simple and delicious! I have this easy mung bean soup recipe here which is also prepared in instant pot where I didn't use tomatoes, but just onions & spices. Different kinds of dal recipes are very popular in India and this kind of whole green moong dal is used in a variety of dishes including dal curry, soup, stew, salads etc. To know about cooking mung beans in detail, see my blog post on how to cook mung beans without soaking here.

Learning the cooking time for mung beans using instant pot helps you to make a lot of instant pot mung beans recipes like instant pot mung bean soup, stew, curry etc.

should you soak mung beans before cooking?

No, we do not need to soak mung beans in water before cooking. We can cook dry green mung beans directly in the instant pot as the green mung beans do not need prior soaking. This is because, mung beans cook much faster. However, if you have soaked mung beans, you can reduce the cooking time since they will cook even more faster! In the above mentioned blog post on how to cook mung beans, I have explained this in detail. We use whole green mung beans to make this delicious curry which goes great with rice or Indian dishes like chapathi, poori etc.

The cooking time for yellow split mung beans instant pot will be even lesser as they cook much faster.

mung bean curry in instant pot pressure cooker

You can easily prepare this green mung bean curry using a 6 quart instant pot as I did.

As I mentioned, as you learn the cooking time and water ratio for cooking green mung beans using instant pot, you can also learn to make green mung bean soup, stew etc using instant pot. Once you have finished the cooking, you can serve this as it is or if you prefer more  gravy, you can add more water and stir well which will easily blend with the cooked green mung beans in the instant pot.

You can also turn this dish to a soup or stew consistency by adding more liquids like coconut milk or vegetable broth as you desire. If you do not have instant pot also, you can make delicious green mung bean curry using a pressure cooker as well.

Green mung bean curry is simple, easy to prepare & delicious which can be served with rice for a quick, easy vegetarian lunch or dinner.

I used coconut oil in this instant pot mung bean curry, but you may also replace the coconut oil with butter, ghee or any other oil like olive oil, canola oil, sunflower oil etc as you like. So here is how you can make this quick, easy and delicious green mung bean curry in instant pot following this easy instant pot mung bean curry recipe.

how to make instant pot mung bean curry?

We use the following ingredients to make the green mung bean curry or green moong dal curry in the instant pot.

ingredients used to make mung bean curry

• 1.5 cups green mung beans (whole green moong dal)
• 3 cups water or vegetable broth
• 1 cup extra water or little more as needed (this is optional)
• 1 tablespoon oil (or ghee or butter for more flavor)
• 3 medium sized tomatoes
• salt adjust to taste

• Spice Powders
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder may use 2 teaspoons
• 1 teaspoon ginger powder
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 tablespoon coriander powder
• 1 teaspoon garam masala powder
• (can also add cumin seeds powder, red chili powder etc according to preference)

steps by step instructions with photos

• Wash the green mung beans and add it to the inner pot of instant pot.
• Wash and chop the tomatoes to small pieces, add the chopped tomatoes also to the pot (if you want to add onions, you can also add a sliced onion to the instant pot now along with the chopped tomatoes. To make it more spicy, you can also add sliced green chilies if you wish).

• Add salt and all spices to the instant pot, stir well.

• Add 3 cups of water (or broth) to the pot and also add the oil, stir well again and close the instant pot with lid in sealing position.

• Press manual and pressure cook in high for 5 minutes of time.
• Once the cooking is done and instant pot beeps, press 'keep warm/cancel' button and wait for natural pressure release which will take another few more minutes.
• You may do a gradual controlled manual release of the pressure after 12 minutes of natural pressure release if needed.
• Once the pressure is all released, carefully open the lid. Stir the contents and if needed for gravy, add one more cup of extra water (or as preferred) and simmer for about a minute (using the saute function).

• Delicious mung bean curry or green moong dal curry with tomatoes & spices is ready to be served.

• If you wish, you can add couple of tablespoons of heavy cream or coconut milk to make the curry creamy and more flavorful!

how to serve mung bean curry?

Serve the mung bean curry with a bowl of white rice or brown basmati rice or serve with Indian breads etc as you wish. This mung bean curry served with a bowl of rice makes a simple & delicious meal on its own but you can also add other vegetable side dishes like roased frozen cauliflower, sauteed instant pot broccoli etc for a quick & wholesome vegetarian meal. You can also enjoy this dish as it is, as its much like a curried lentil stew or spiced soup on its own.

As I mentioned earlier, you can read about how to cook mung beans here where I explain in detail how to cook mung beans in different ways or methods on stove top using a pan, pressure cooker or in the instant pot.

can you add onions to this mung bean curry?

Yes, you can add onions to mung bean curry for more flavor. In this instant pot mung bean curry, we use green mung beans (whole green moong dal), tomatoes and spices. I didn't use any onions as I wanted to make it very quickly and I didn't want to use the onions in this recipe. If you wish, you can also chop half of a large onion (or use a whole medium sized onion) and saute it in the instant pot using little oil and the saute option for about 2 to 3 minutes, then press the 'keep warm' button and follow the rest of the instructions as mentioned in the recipe, so you can have sauteed onions also in this green mung bean curry. If you do not wish to saute the onions, just add the chopped onions to the instant pot along with other ingredients (one medium sized onion will be enough). However, even without adding onions, this instant pot green mung bean curry is very delicious as we use tomatoes and spices to prepare the gravy.

So you really do not have to use onions if you want to make this quickly, you can just go ahead and make it fast following the directions in the recipe!

See here how to cook chickpeas in instant pot(garbanzo beans recipe).

You can see all instant pot recipes in this blog here.

Below you can get the recipe for instant pot mung bean curry in detail.