I don’t know about you, but I’m not coping very well with the cold weather. Despite my 11 years in England, I just can’t bring myself to do very much in winter. All the festive revelries are only perpetuating the problem.

The time is right for a stodgy, warming and simple meal of dhal and rice. One my favourite dhals is made with whole mung (moong) beans. These are one of the most high-protein lentils and can be cooked with minimum fuss. There are also some great recipes for dhal made with skinned mung lentils, which I will post later.

This recipe serves 3-4 people.

125gms mung beans
1″ ginger chopped
1 onion, sliced
2 small tomatoes
Quarter tsp turmeric powder
Quarter tsp chilli
1 tbsp ghee or butter
Salt to taste
Hot water

Wash the mung beans thoroughly. Add the turmeric powder, two cups of hot water and bring to the boil. Boil on a medium heat, stirring regularly to prevent the dhal from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
As it cooks the lentils will start losing their shape and going soft. They will also go from being green to a darker shade of brown. Keep adding a little water to prevent the mixture from drying up. And if any foamy scum appears on the surface, skim it off and get rid of it. When the colour starts changing, chop the tomatoes and add to the lentils.

The tomatoes will slowly disintegrate in the lentils. When you have a smooth dhal with the lentils cooked, heat the ghee or butter in a small pan. Fry the ginger first, and then add the onions and chilli powder and keep frying until brown.

To finish, put this onion mixture into the lentils and add salt to taste . Voila!