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Recipes with Mung Bean: Coconut, Turmeric & Tomato Sambar Soup
The humble and bland little bean is your passport to enjoy the rich and exotic flavors of India. Mung bean is a versatile legume that absorbs flavors of other spices and herbs, retaining their purity and vibrancy. They offer a mesmerizing bellyful of contentment; a bowlful of satisfaction that could become addictive. While it fills your belly you'll also enjoy many health and nutritional benefits. Mung beans and kitchari have a long history of food and medicinal use throughout Asia and have now made their way into kitchens here in the United States and are gaining widespread popularity.
Cleansing
Are you feeling lethargic and tired? Do you feel bloated or have irregular bowel movements? Do you often see a thick white coating on your tongue? These are signs you may need a detoxifying cleanse with mung beans. The pastiness of mung bean is your cue to its cleansing action - a hint of the soluble and insoluble fibers in mung bean that literally scrape your colon clean. But it's not the only sign of mung's cleansing properties. Place a teaspoon of uncooked mung dal on your tongue. Within a minute, you will notice a dry, rough sensation in your mouth. This sensation is called astringent taste in Ayurveda. The astringent taste of mung bean helps tone your digestive organs. Along with fiber, astringency helps to purge mucus from the bowels, rooting out toxins and parasites that may be lodged in your gut.
Want to experience the cleansing and revitalizing properties of mung bean directly? Try kitchari. Simple and easy to make at home, kitchari features rice, a legume, ghee or oil, salt and spices. You may also add greens such as kale, vegetables like potatoes and squashes, or garnish with cilantro and coconut flakes. Popular kitchari spices include ginger, cumin, cayenne, cinnamon, fennel and asafoetida. To cook kitchari, boil the mung beans until soft. Fry the spices gently in ghee or oil. Then add all the ingredients to the mung bean broth, simmering until the rice is tender.
Add mung beans into your regular meal plan by replacing lunch and dinner with a hearty serving of mung bean kitchari once a week. Monday's are often the most convenient day for a kitchari fast, as you may be more motivated after a weekend of rich and heavy foods. You will benefit from increased energy, improved metabolism, regular and healthy bowel movements and reduced signs of constipation, as well as an overall boost in your immunity and general feeling of wellbeing and vitality. For enhanced cleansing, you can extend your kitchari fast (also called kitchari mono-diet) for 1-10 days. Time any type of cleanse for when you're not too busy or distracted and keep a thermos handy so you can enjoy your kitchari at work. During your cleanse, minimize or eliminate rigorous exercise, refined sugars, alcohol, and cold beverages. Replace rigorous exercise with walking or yoga, and replace beverages with warm water and / or herbal teas.
Fresh is Best
Sprouted Mung Beans
If you have a hectic lifestyle, you might find yourself surviving on overly rich, processed foods, old food, and poor eating habits, which leads to a sluggish and overburdened digestive system. While preparing your meals fresh daily may be difficult, once you gather and master a few good recipes in your cooking arsenal, cooking fresh food every day can be a great tool to reach your wellness goals. Kitchari is an easy way to enjoy fresh food. For best results, make kitchari fresh daily although one-day left overs may be okay if your digestion is strong. Keep in mind that leftover food loses its "life" quickly. Reheating (and freezing) can destroy many of the nutritional benefits.
Recipes with Mung Bean: Idly
Strengthening and Healing the Gut
Emotional stress, environmental toxins, harsh seasonal changes, illnesses, extended travel, overworking, and irregular activities can also leave your digestion in a weakened state. A simple mung bean kitchari can help reset your digestion, as well as stimulate your digestive powers so you can feel lively and light. A kitchari fast also gives your digestion a much needed rest from the assault of rich foods characteristic of modern lifestyles. Use dehulled beans whenever digestion is weak, as bean skins are difficult to digest.
Mung beans can help restore your bowels after a bout of food poisoning. Their cooling nature reduces inflammation in the digestive tract. To enhance their cooling effect, garnish with cilantro. Mung bean's fiber and astringency can help bind up loose stools in diarrhea. Mung bean kitchari is a restorative for those recovering from any illness. Literally it is the vegetarian equivalent of Grandma's proverbial 'Chicken-Soup'. Plus, it reintroduces the simplicity and austerity of wholesome, great tasting food.
Mung Beans & Weight Loss
Mung beans are a low-calorie, natural choice to help you overcome the hardest challenge of weight loss: curbing your hunger pangs and keeping your cravings quiet. How many other ingredients can boast comfort and satisfaction while restoring lightness to your step and clarity to your mind? The high fiber content in mung beans aids in cholesterol reduction and lowers blood sugar levels. Plus, mung beans are a mild diuretic which helps to reduce excess water weight. They are especially useful for edema in the lower limbs. To enhance their durietic effect, prepare them with diuretic spices like cumin, coriander and fennel, or celery and parsley.
Nutritional Information
Like most legumes, mung beans contain difficult to digest saponins. They are also high in potassium, a diuretic and astringent. They contain vitamins A, C and E, folacin, phosphorous, magnesium, iron and calcium. They are also a source of phytoestrogens.
About Mung Bean
Looking for a new way to keep your body refreshed and cleansed this summer? Mung beans can help you keep your cool when the days are hot. These nourishing legumes are also famous for their cleansing abilities in Ayurveda.
Buying & Preparation
Mung beans (often spelled moong) may be found in Indian or Asian grocery stores. Mung beans with the skin are green. Split mung beans without the skin are yellow. Green mung beans with the skin intact can be sprouted, while the hulled, split variety cannot. We recommend split mung beans for those with weak digestion, and sprouted mung beans for improved nutrition if you can digest it without gas.
Like most legumes, mung beans contain difficult to digest saponins. Fortunately, saponins are water soluble. To reduce saponins, soak the beans overnight then strain the water the following morning. Or, boil for ten minutes until the water turns sudsy then strain. You may also follow these techniques to improve digestibility and reduce gaseyness in beans.
Cooking Mung Bean
Mung beans can be spiced in countless ways. They are simple to cook, cost-effective, and versatile. They are most often cooked into a soup (or dal) in India. Or, they may be ground with rice to a thick paste and fermented, then fried into a delicious thin pancake known as a dosa. The fermented paste may also be used to make idly, a tasty dumpling served with rich yogurt sauces. In Indonesia, mung beans are also featured in sweet dishes cooked with coconut milk, sugar or jaggery, and ginger.
For the Chinese, drinking a bowl of cold sweet mung bean soup is an every day habit in summer - it's a delicious dessert with medicinal properties that cool down your system in the heat. In China, sweet mung paste is also frozen into an ice-cream.
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You'll learn your body type, and whether 'Mung Bean' is a good fit.
Complete the basic quiz in 1 minute, or go deeper with additional quizzes at your own leisure to learn more about your body.
AYURVEDA'S GUIDE TO VITALITY & WHOLESOME NOURISHMENT
Your Ayurvedic diet is tailored to your individual body and your specific imbalances.
With an Ayurvedic diet you feel joy and satisfaction because what you are eating truly nourishes and balances you.
Disease results from diets and lifestyles that are incompatible with your nature.
By eating a personalized diet matched to your body, you experience optimal health.
See How it Works.
Functional Ayurveda helps you assess imbalances through 20 main biocharacteristics
(gunas).
Aggravating these characteristics weakens your body and causes imbalance.
By knowing which characteristics are habitually imbalanced in your body, you will be able to identify and correct imbalances before you get sick.
Every characteristic has an opposite which balances it (i.e. hot balances cold).
You restore balance by favoring diet and lifestyle choices that increase the opposite characteristic.
Taste is used to sense the most basic properties and effects of food.
Each taste has a specific medicinal effect on your body.
Cravings for food with certain tastes indicate your body is craving specific medicinal results from food.
Taste is experienced on the tongue and represents your body's reaction to foods.
Sweet taste causes physical satisfaction and attraction whereas bitter taste causes discomfort and aversion.
Kapha should use less sweet taste while Vata and Pitta would benefit from using more sweet taste.
One of the first signs of illness is that your taste and appetite for food changes.
The six tastes are sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent.
Do you crave foods with any of the tastes below?
According to the biocharacteristic theory of medicine,
people tend to get sick, over and over again, due to habitual causes and imbalances that are unique to the person.
Your body type summarizes this tendency, showing you the 'type' of conditions and imbalances that frequently challenge your health & wellness.
Using body type, you can also identify remedies likely to improve your strength and resiliency.
Your body type identifies physical and mental characteristics as well as your personal strengths and weaknesses.
The calculation of your body type is based on your medical history.
The 3 functional body types
(doshas),
are Catabolic (Vata), Metabolic (Pitta), and Anabolic (Kapha).
Catabolic individuals tend to break down body mass into energy. They are easily stimulated, hyperactive, underweight and dry.
Metabolic individuals tend to burn or use energy. They tend to be rosy-cheeked, easily irritated, focused, driven, and easily inflamed.
Anabolic individuals tend to store energy as body mass. If they store too much energy, they could gain weight easily and have congestion. Anabolic people tend to be stable and grounded.
Medicinal Benefits, Uses & Herbal Actions of Mung Bean
Experiences are Personal
Experiences vary according to the person and constitution. Individual results may vary.
The list of herbal-actions below has not be approved by the FDA and should not be used to treat a medical condition.
STRONG HIGH-FIBER-LAXATIVE
A class of laxative that adds bulk and water to stools. The large size of the stool stimulates peristalsis so the stool can pass more easily through the colon. It is important to drink plenty of water when using high fiber laxatives, as they can be dehydr
A herb that contracts tissue or blood vessels. Generally styptics are astringent. They are often used topically as a hemostatic to stop bleeding, or to reduce secretions.
Herbs that promote urine formation, thereby flushing the kidneys and urinary tract while eliminating any excess water retention. As diuretics reduce water retention, they are often used to reduce blood pressure.
Scrapes fats / cleanses blood vessels by 1) purging bile, 2) strengthening the liver's ability to metabolize fats, 3) by increasing uptake of cholesterol in the liver, and 4) by inhibiting fat cells.
Inositol is an alcohol sugar made naturally in the human body from glucose. It is lipotropic (aiding fat metabilism in the liver). It affects a variety of hormones, neurotransmitters, steroid, growth factors and water.
Phytates prevent absorption of nutrients. They are commonly found in all seeds, including nuts, grains, and beans. Sprouting greatly reduces phytate content, as well as long, slow cooking with vinegar.
In each clinical research trial below, students from the
Joyful Belly School of Ayurveda ate the selected food for 3 days and reported the pharmacological effects.
See other clinical research trials for diet & herbs at Joyful Belly.
TEMPERATURE/CIRCULATION
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect your temperature?
0
8
16
3
0
Much colder
Slightly colder
Same
Slightly warmer
Much warmer
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect your sweat quantity?
0
0
25
1
1
Much less
Slightly less
Same
Slightly more
Much more
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect the color of your tongue body?
6
3
0
18
Paler
Redder
Bluer
No Change
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect your appetite/hunger?
4
14
5
3
1
Much less hungry
Slightly less hungry
Same
Slightly hungrier
Much hungrier
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect your digestion speed?
0
11
9
7
0
Much faster
Slightly faster
Same
Slightly slower
Much slower
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
TOXINS
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect the amount of gas & bloating?
1
1
13
9
3
Much less
Slightly less
Same
Slightly more
Much more
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect your stool smell?
0
4
15
7
1
Much less
Slightly less
Same
Slightly more
Much more
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
Tongue: How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect the thickness & size of your tongue coating?
2
5
14
6
0
Much smaller
Slightly less
Same
Slightly larger coating
Much larger
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect the color of your tongue coating?
2
1
4
3
17
Yellower
Browner
Grayer
Whiter
No Change
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect your urine smell?
0
1
23
3
0
Much less
Slightly less
Same
Slightly more
Much more
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect the amount of bubbles in your urine?
0
0
23
4
0
Much less
Slightly less
Same
Slightly more
Many more
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect your sweat smell?
0
0
26
1
0
Much less
Slightly less
Same
Slightly more
Much more
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
HYDRATION
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect your urine frequency/quantity?
0
3
15
8
1
Much less
Slightly less
Same
Slightly more
Much more
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect the cracks on your tongue?
0
4
18
5
0
Larger/longer/more cracks
Slightly more
Same
Slightly less/smaller/shorter
Much less
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
NERVOUS-SYSTEM
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect your energy levels?
0
3
7
16
1
Much less energy
Slightly less
Same
Slightly more energy
Much more
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect your muscle tension?
0
5
17
4
1
Much less tension
Slightly less
Same
Slightly more tension
Much more
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect your anxiety?
3
10
10
3
1
Much less anxiety
Slightly less
Same
Slightly more anxiety
Much more
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect the stillness of your tongue?
4
20
3
More still
No Change
More Trembling / Jittery
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
DIGESTION
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect the amount of gas & bloating?
1
1
13
9
3
Much less
Slightly less
Same
Slightly more
Much more
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect your appetite/hunger?
4
14
5
3
1
Much less hungry
Slightly less hungry
Same
Slightly hungrier
Much hungrier
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect your digestion speed?
0
11
9
7
0
Much faster
Slightly faster
Same
Slightly slower
Much slower
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
TONGUE
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect the cracks on your tongue?
0
4
18
5
0
Larger/longer/more cracks
Slightly more
Same
Slightly less/smaller/shorter
Much less
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
Tongue: How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect the thickness & size of your tongue coating?
2
5
14
6
0
Much smaller
Slightly less
Same
Slightly larger coating
Much larger
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect the color of your tongue body?
6
3
0
18
Paler
Redder
Bluer
No Change
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect the stillness of your tongue?
4
20
3
More still
No Change
More Trembling / Jittery
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect the color of your tongue coating?
2
1
4
3
17
Yellower
Browner
Grayer
Whiter
No Change
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
STOOL
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect your stool smell?
0
4
15
7
1
Much less
Slightly less
Same
Slightly more
Much more
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect your stool consistency?
0
12
8
6
1
Much softer
Slightly softer
Same
Slightly harder
Much harder
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect your stool frequency/quantity?
0
8
7
11
1
Much less
Slightly less
Same
Slightly more
Much more
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect your stool color?
2
0
10
1
14
More yellow
More gray
More green
More orange
Same
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect your stool lightness?
0
8
14
4
1
Much lighter
Slightly lighter
Same
Slightly darker
Much darker
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
URINE
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect your urine frequency/quantity?
0
3
15
8
1
Much less
Slightly less
Same
Slightly more
Much more
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect the amount of bubbles in your urine?
0
0
23
4
0
Much less
Slightly less
Same
Slightly more
Many more
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect your urine clarity?
8
15
4
More cloudy
Same
More clear
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect your urine smell?
0
1
23
3
0
Much less
Slightly less
Same
Slightly more
Much more
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect your urine lightness?
1
4
18
4
0
Much lighter
Slightly lighter
Same
Slightly Darker
Much Darker
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
SWEAT
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect your sweat smell?
0
0
26
1
0
Much less
Slightly less
Same
Slightly more
Much more
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect your sweat quantity?
0
0
25
1
1
Much less
Slightly less
Same
Slightly more
Much more
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
SYSTEMIC
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect your anxiety?
3
10
10
3
1
Much less anxiety
Slightly less
Same
Slightly more anxiety
Much more
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect your temperature?
0
8
16
3
0
Much colder
Slightly colder
Same
Slightly warmer
Much warmer
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect your energy levels?
0
3
7
16
1
Much less energy
Slightly less
Same
Slightly more energy
Much more
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
How did Whole Green Mung Beans affect your muscle tension?
0
5
17
4
1
Much less tension
Slightly less
Same
Slightly more tension
Much more
Total Responses: 27 Study ID:41 (2021-01-06 - 2021-01-16)
Mung Bean may be beneficial for these symptoms. The suitability of any food for a condition is highly dependent on the individual.
Please see your doctor before using this food to treat a medical condition.
Eating Ayurvedically makes you feel nourished and energized. Food digests with ease when
right for your body type (dosha). Healthy digestion is seen as the cornerstone of well-being in
Ayurveda. Healthy digestion generally prevents illness. If you do get sick, a strong digestive fire
reduces the severity of illness and increases your resilience. It also improves your mood. Once
you begin eating Ayurvedically, you will feel refreshed, vital and strong.
Give smart recommendations to your clients and improve efficiency in your clinic with these tools.
About the Author
John Immel, the founder of Joyful Belly, teaches people how to have a
healthy diet and lifestyle with Ayurveda biocharacteristics.
His approach to Ayurveda is clinical, yet exudes an ease which many find enjoyable and insightful.
John also directs Joyful Belly's School of Ayurveda,
offering professional clinical training in Ayurveda for over 15 years.
John's interest in Ayurveda and specialization in digestive tract pathology was inspired by a complex digestive disorder acquired from years of international travel,
as well as public service work in South Asia.
John's commitment to the detailed study of digestive disorders reflects his zeal to get down to the roots of the problem.
His hope and belief in the capacity of each & every client to improve their quality of life is nothing short of a personal passion.
John's creativity in the kitchen and delight in cooking for others comes from his family oriented upbringing.
In addition to his certification in Ayurveda, John holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Harvard University.
John enjoys sharing Ayurveda within the context of his Catholic roots,
and finds Ayurveda gives him an opportunity to participate in the healing mission of the Church.
Jesus expressed God's love by feeding and healing the sick.
That kindness is the fundamental ministry of Ayurveda as well.
Outside of work, John enjoys spending time with his wife and 7 kids, and pursuing his love of theology, philosophy, and language.
I just received a 25 pounds order of split mung beans from my local co-op. The color is a green/yellow mix since some of the skins are still on. So, even though these beans are split, there is still alot of green and skin. Will they still make a healing ayurvedic food?
Often time when I soak split yellow mungs over night - next day they appear sticky and hard and are harder even after boiling. Not soaked are OK. It looks like theyr astringency increase and they stick together. What can be wrong?
Is it ok to use sprouted mung beans in kitchari? What is hing and where do you get it?
- Nancy Anne Garibay, Carpinteria, CA, 03-22-15 (Reply)
Same question as above. Is it OK to use sprouted mung beans & if so do you need to soak them? Also the same question for nuts. If they are sprouted is there a need to soak them?
Cooked sprouted mung bean is better digested than their hardened versions. Sprouting activates digestive enzymes in that are otherwise not available when we cook the hardened ones directly after soaking.So yes, sprout mung beans are easier to digest. But make sure even sprout mung beans are cooked. Eating them raw regularly might constitute even those with agni!
* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.
The information and products on this website are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any
disease.