A moonglet is an easy Indian style vegan omelet made with mung or moong lentils that you can easily whip up in about the time it might take you to crack an egg and whisk it up. But it's tastier, healthier, and you can pack it with all the veggies your heart desires. Also gluten-free, soy-free and nut-free.
Were you to order a moonglet, a vegan moong bean omelet, from one of India's street food vendors, they'd whip up an extraordinarily healthy slurry of mung beans and spices, then add half a stick of butter to a pan, pour the mung in, and fry it all up into a food so delicious, with crispy edges and a puff, airy texture, that you'd lick your fingers to stubs.
But one of the great things about cooking street food at home is, you can cut out the stuff you don't want and, with some ingenuity, still keep things as tasty as possible.
Today, I want to share with you my mung bean omelet recipe, which is not just tasty, not just healthy, but amazingly kid friendly as well.
Jay loves this moonglet so much, he'll often request it for breakfast. And I never have to snap, "I'm too busy, get yourself some cereal!" because it takes all of 10 minutes to make.
Also this way I can put lots of colorful, healthy veggies into his tum.
But don't just eat it for breakfast. It makes a great lunch or quick dinner as well.
This recipe is pretty much a blank canvas you can paint on with your own imagination. The base, of mung beans or moong lentils, is your egg mixture and you add ingredients to it based on your taste and preference.
That said, my recipe--the combination of ingredients I add here--is especially delicious and I've got a few tips and tricks to make sure this moonglet turns out as delicious as can be. So be sure to try it this way at least once.
You will need to do a small step of prep work for this recipe, which is soaking the mung lentils for at least half an hour. Longer is fine, you can do the soaking the night before you plan to cook. Soaking the lentils help blend them into a smoother mixture.
I like crispy edges on my moonglets, so I add a dash of brown rice to the lentils as they soak. The rice gives a nice crunch and adds more healthfulness. You don't need the rice, but I'd strongly recommend it.
I add a few ingredients to the blender when I whip up the moonglet batter--ginger, garlic and green chili peppers. You can add turmeric, although I don't much care for it in here.
A dash of baking soda gives the omelets a lovely, puffy and light texture, but if you don't want to use it, leave it out by all means.
You can add all sorts of veggies to the moonglet. I like bell peppers, onions, spring onions, shredded carrots, zucchini, shredded spinach, and herbs like cilantro and mint. Anything that doesn't take a ton of time to cook would work.
Try and use a cast iron skillet for this if possible, although a nonstick skillet works too. A cast iron skillet just gives those great, crispy edges that kids go gaga for.
You can eat it by itself, no need for anything on the side, although I'll admit I sometimes like eating my mung bean omelet with a green chutney. Jay loves it with hot sauce. Ketchup works perfectly fine too.
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Moonglet, a Mung Bean Omelet
Moonglet, a vegan mung bean omelet
Equipment
- Griddle
Ingredients
- 1 cup mung lentils (use the split lentils without skin on. Soak for at least half an hour or as long as overnight.)
- 2 tablespoon brown rice (optional. White rice works too. Soak the rice with the dal)
- 1 teaspoon garlic (crushed or minced)
- 1 teaspoon ginger (minced)
- 2 green chili peppers (like jalapeno or serrano. Adjust up or down based on your tolerance for heat)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda (optional)
- 1 cup mixed veggies (like minced onions, bell peppers, carrots, zucchini, mushrooms or shredded spinach. Tomato's great too.)
- 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Drain the lentils and rice, if using, then place them in the blender with the ginger, garlic, chili peppers, baking soda, if using, and salt to taste. Add water to blend into a smooth batter that's slightly runnier than a pancake batter would be but thicker than a crepe batter.
- Place the griddle on medium high heat and brush on or spray on enough oil to coat the bottom. I use a six-inch cast iron griddle which gives me perfectly sized moonglets, but you can make these any size you want.
- Pour in the batter to make a circle. If you use a six-inch pan, you can pick the griddle up carefully by the handle, using a mitt if you're using a cast iron pan, and swirl the batter around to ensure it spreads evenly (like you'd do for a crepe).
- Sprinkle on any veggies you want. I used onions, bell peppers and scallions this time.
- Let the moonglet cook until you can see the sides are dry and golden, about 2-3 minutes. Flip over and cook a couple more minutes. Serve hot.
Nutrition
Sabina
I had split moong dal with skin so I used those. The batter was a bit think (I used almost 1 1/2 C of water). Anyway, my husband wanted just to try first and he ended up eating three out of 4 so ... That says a lot! 😀
Vaishali
Happy you loved it. On your other question, urad dal would not have the right flavor for this recipe.