So I am unexpectedly at home this evening (plans fell through. We are NOT
happy with him!!) I decided to do my Sunday morning shopping tonight
instead. Went to the Indian grocery store. Huge hands of ginger for about
$1/pound - I'm going to crystallize some ginger for baking.. Beautiful
little globe eggplants for next to nothin - a Thai curry with these little
babies is on the menu for tomorrow night. And the mung beans (or moong, as
they were labeled) were singing my name in high C.

Next week's lunch will be soup in addition to the middle eastern chopped
salad.

I'll probably screw around with the recipe. I always do. For one thing,
that's a whole lotta spicy peppers for this little tender mouth!

Spicy Mung Bean Soup


1 cup dried mung beans, washed and rinsed
5 cups cold water or vegetable stock
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
4 teaspoons canola oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 or 3 large tomatoes, chopped
a 2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced
2 or 3 serrano peppers, very thinly sliced (do not remove the seeds)
1 cup coconut milk
2 medium or 1 large chicken breast (optional)
1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro
salt to taste
juice of 1 lemon

Place the mung beans in a pot with the 5 cups of cold water. Bring to a
simmer and cook until beans are tender. (Do not boil. I cannot stress this
enough. Just a gentle simmer. The recipe says to cook the beans for about 40
minutes, but mine were done in about 25. But this is likely because I cooked
them at too high a temperature, and as such my beans were not tender so much
as they were mushy. Not that it affects the flavor, but I would think the
soup would have been better if the beans were a little firmer.)
Meanwhile, combine the turmeric, cumin, curry powder, and garam masala and
set aside.

Then in a large soup pot, heat the canola oil over medium-high heat. Saute
the onions until soft. Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the garlic,
tomatoes, and the ginger. Saute for a minute or so.

Add the combined spices and the sliced serrano pepper and saute for another
minute. Next add the beans and their cooking liquid to the pot with the
vegetables and spices. Add the coconut milk and the chicken breast, if
using. You might need to add another cup ot two of water, if the soup seems
a little thick. Simmer the soup uncovered for 15 minutes. Remove the chicken
breast from the soup

Stir in the cilantro, season with salt and pepper and serve with a wedge of
lemon.

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