Zucchini Moong Dal

Zucchini Moong Dal is a quick dal and makes a great choice for summer dal. This zucchini lentil | courgette lentil curry recipe is light on the tummy and really quick to put together. I mostly like to pair it with rice, but you can use roti, bread and enjoy it as soup.

This zucchini Moong Dal is inspired by the Bengali daal – bhaaja moong dal. It is not spicy and calls for very minimal ingredients.

We make Bhaaja Moong dal (Bhaaja means dry roasting in this case) quite often during summer month. Sometimes it’s left plain and sometimes we load it with vegetables. You don’t need to add a lot of spices. And you don’t need tadka at the end. Just a drizzle of ghee and it ready.

INGREDIENTS FOR ZUCCHINI MOONG DAL 

Moong Daal – Yellow split mung beans

Zucchini

Nigella seeds – I have mentioned below substitutes you can add.

Turmeric

Fresh green chili  — The fresh chili is added whole at the end mainly for flavor a mild heat. I avoid slitting in half as my kid cannot eat spicy food. But do split in half for extra heat.

Fresh Ginger – The flavor will enhance if you use fresh ginger, grated. Avoid adding store bought ginger paste.

Salt

Oil

Ghee

If you followed my Instagram story you would know that we are currently getting overloaded with zucchinis from our backyard garden. So am finding different way to include this summer veggie in our daily meal.

This simple moong dal with zucchini can be prepared either in stove top or in Instapot.

I personally prefer to dry roast the moong daal before boiling as it brings out a warm aroma and enhances the texture of the dal.

If you decide to prepare this dal in Instapot, I will recommend you dry roast it separately in a pan and then add it to the Instapot.

Dry Roasting Moong Dal for this Zucchini Lentil Curry:

• You need to constantly stir the moong dal in a hot skillet or wok until it turns mildly golden brown. You will get the aroma.
• Wash the lentil after roasting it.  

Substitutes for this Zucchini Moong Daal

• You can use any other variety of lentils you have in hand. Zucchini Chana Daal and Zucchini Masoor Daal is a popular choice too.  
• I used nigella seeds for this dish but you can use the more common cumin seeds instead
• I personally don’t like any tadka in this zucchini dal but a drizzle of ghee at the end. But if you like tadka on dal go ahead and add that.

In India Zucchini is not that popular, and this exactly same moon dal is prepared using bottle gourd. I took the same idea and used zucchini instead. 

We enjoyed the dal with rice and some crispy zucchini flowers battered fried. 

Here are more recipes using zucchini: 

Zucchini Tart 

Zucchini Fritters

Also try this delicious Zucchini Blossom Stuffed with Poppyseeds and Coconut

Zucchini Moong Dal

Yield: Serves 3

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Zucchini Moong Dal is a quick dal and makes a great choice for summer dal. This zucchini lentil | courgette lentil curry recipe is light on the tummy and really quick to put together. I mostly like to pair it with rice, but you can use roti, bread and enjoy it as soup.

Print

Ingredients

• 1 medium size zucchini, cut into tiny bite size.
• ½ cup yellow mung daal
• 1 teaspoon oil
• 1 teaspoon nigella seeds
• ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 inch fresh ginger, grated
• Couple fresh green chili
• Handful of finely chopped fresh cilantro

Instructions

1. In a dry wok or skillet, dry roast the moong dal/ yellow mung beans stirring constantly until it turns mild golden color.
2. Then wash the daal and place it in a pan or pressure cooker along with ½ teaspoon salt. Boil the dal but retail little texture. Don’t make it too soupy.
3. In a skillet or pan, pour the oil along with the nigella seeds. Stir it around and then add the zucchini, rest of the salt and turmeric. Stir around for 3 minutes.
4. Add the boiled daal, stir it around and let it simmer for 3 minutes. Add the freshly grated ginger and the green chili. Let it simmer for 2 minutes. Taste for salt and any if needed.
5. Sprinkle cilantro leaves, mix it around and serve it warm with rice.

Notes

If you decide to prepare this dal in Instapot, I will recommend
you dry roast it separately in a pan and then add it to the Instapot.

Substitutes for Moong Daal

You can use any other variety of lentils you
have in hand.

You can use the more common cumin seeds instead of nigella seeds.