Mung bean soup (Mug nu osaman)

Mung bean soup is often referred to as “mug nu osaman” in Gujarati.  Osaman is the water/stock remaining when boiled mung are  drained.  This soup made out of the mung bean stock rather than mung beans. This soup is tasty and easy to digest and usually made for people who have lost their appetite. This soup is full of protein and low calories so a lot of people drink it as part of their calorie controlled diet too.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of whole mung beans
• 1 tbls sunflower oil
• 1 tsp
• salt to taste
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 2-3 cloves
• small piece if cinnamon
• 1 small dried red chili
• 2 fresh green chillies
• 2 tsp minced ginger
• small bunch of coriander
• 5-6 leaves of fresh curry leaves
• 1 tbls jaggery or brown sugar
• 1 tbls lemon juice

Method

1. Soak the mung beans for a couple of hours before putting them to boil.  For one cup of mug – use about 5 cups of water to cook.  The best way to cook them is using a pressure cooker.  If you do not have a pressure cooker, add a pinch of soda bi carbonate to the mung beans whilst cooking and this will help soften the mung beans quicker.

2.  In the mean time, keep all the ingredients for the Tadka (tempering) ready on a work top.   That’s the cumin seeds, cloves, cinnamon, dried red chillies.

3.  Once the mung beans have cooked,  let them rest and allow the mung to settle at the bottom.  Using a spoon, scoop out the water from the cooked mung.  Don’t worry if some of the mung also gets scooped up.  Some people use a sieve to strain out all the water but  prefer to just use a spoon to scoop up the liquid.  For the left over mung – you can freeze them and use them to make mung bean curry or this mung bean curry with yogurt.

4. Heat the oil and prepare for the Tadka (tempering).  Once the oil is hot, add the cumin seeds, cinnamon, cloves and the dried red chillies.   Once they stop popping, add the mung bean stock.  Add all the spices as well as the ginger, coriander and curry leaves.

5.  Allow it to simmer for 5 minutes.  The soup will be fairly thin – similar to rasam. 

6.  Serve it hot on it’s own if someone isn’t well and lost their appetite or serve it with rice and rotis as part of a full meal. 

Do you have any more soup/osaman type of recipes? Do share!