Mugachya Gathi (Goan recipe for a spicy and healthy green-gram-sprouts curry)

This is another one from my mother's kitchen. With all the goodness of green gram sprouts (moong sprouts) and coconut gravy this is one of my favorite goan recipes.

My mom worked (and still does) really hard on getting the sprouts ready ( I'll share with you how she does it right in this post!), but in most big places like Mumbai / Delhi / Bangalore or in places where you do have good sabzi-mandis (vegetable markets), you'll get packets of sprouted moong. It's perfectly alright to use these if you can't do the whole procedure to take moong from hard dry to soft sprouted version.

Here's how mom does it.
Day 1. Wash about a cup of dry moong in cold water, rinse and soak overnight.
Day 2. During the day, let the soaked moong rest on a strainer so all the water gets drained. During the night soak them again.
Day 3. By now the moong must have sprouted nicely. Wash them well so the green cover gets removed.
This is how it is done in the original recipe. For those of you who are more health conscious and do not want to lose out on the fiber that the green cover provides, I think you can just leave it there. No harm.

Or simply go to the vegetable store and buy a packet of sprouted moong instead.

So, ingredient wise you need to have
1. Two cups of sprouted green gram (moong)
2. Green chillies - 2
3. Asafetida (Hing) - 2-3 pinches. This is the main flavoring agent here. So, use the best quality one you have. Mom took special Shankar Chhap Hing with its whole chunks of Asafetida and ground it freshly instead of using the ready-made powder. Again, your call.
4. Coconut - grated and ground with some water to the consistency of wet chutney. About 1/2 a cup.
5. Garam masala - 1/4 tsp.
6. Jaggery (Gud / GuL) - little less than 1 tsp
7. Tamarind pulp - little less than 1/4 cup
8. Red chilly powder - to taste
9. Haldi - 1/4 tsp.
10. Salt to taste

First cook moong with pieces of green chillies and asafetida and haldi. Do not pressure cook over medium flame stirring occasionally. The moong should not become soggy.
Once it is almost cooked add ground coconut, garam masala, jaggery, tamarind pulp, red chilly powder and salt.
Let simmer and then turn the heat off.

You can eat it just like that with fresh bread or steamed rice with some pickle as a side.

Or

Just before serving, you can put some tadka (spluttering) on it. To do this, simply heat a tsp of oil, add mustard seeds and curry leaves. Let splutter and add it over the moong curry.

Or

This is something I do to turn most curries into a quick snack ;) Take some curry in a bowl. Add whatever chips / namkeen / even pretzels crushed with your hands. Add some chopped cilantro and tomato pieces. Basically add some crunchiness and some un-cooked-ness ( you get it, right?) to it. Mix well. Gobble!

I am sending this entry off to two events planned by two fellow foodie bloggers

Iftar Moment Hijri 1431	Let’s Sprout