A moonglet is an easy Indian style omelet made with moong lentils instead of eggs. You can whip it up in no time at all. It's healthy, tasty, and you can pack it with all the veggies your heart desires. Just one moonglet (the recipe makes six) has nine grams of protein and 11 grams of fiber!
You might also like these recipes for besan chilla, moong chilla and vegan omelet.
Were you to order a moonglet (a moong bean omelet) from one of India's street food vendors, they'd whip up an extraordinarily healthy slurry of moong beans and spices. Then, they'd add half a stick of butter to a pan, pour the moong bean slurry 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 (like that hunk of butter) and, with some ingenuity, still keep the dish extremely tasty.
Today, I want to share with you my moonglet 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. It's also an easy way to get your kids to eat lots of colorful, healthy veggies.
But don't just eat it for breakfast. It makes a great lunch or quick dinner as well.
Making a delicious moonglet at home
This recipe is pretty much a blank canvas. You add ingredients to the basic moong bean mixture to tweak it to your liking. 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.
Serve
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.
More delicious Indian breakfast recipes
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Recipe card
Moonglet Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup moong dal (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 avocado oil or any neutral 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 Information
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julie says
I can’t wait to try this recipe with the brown rice. I have made a similar recipe and added a couple tablespoons of quinoa flake. Thank you. Quick question, how well does this freeze for meal prep?
Vaishali says
Hi Julie, You can freeze the moonglet after making it, and it should taste just fine if you thaw and reheat it on a griddle or in the microwave. I would prefer freezing the batter, however, and making the moonglet right before eating, for the best texture.
Sabina says
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 says
Happy you loved it. On your other question, urad dal would not have the right flavor for this recipe.
Sabina Carlozzo says
Hi! could the recipe work with urad dal as well?
Vaishali says
Urad dal wouldn’t have the same flavor — it can be bitter on its own.
Brad says
We discovered your recipe while searching for healthy vegetarian, soy free, and gluten free recipes. We've used many of your recipes and as for the Moonglet, we've tried different combinations of seasonings and veggies! We enjoy the creative process and versatility of this recipe very much. Thanks for your efforts to create healthy alternative recipes. This one has been placed in our breakfast, lunch, and / or dinner rotation!!
Vaishali says
Hi Brad, thanks for the message--so lovely to read, and happy you enjoyed the moonglet!
Susan says
I just made this for our breakfast, and WOW! This recipe is a keeper, and I will make it often! So delicious! I used mushroom, yellow Summer squash, spinach and tomato for the veggies.
Vaishali says
Awesome, so happy to hear!
Devon says
Hi, Vaishali - I've been a subscriber because I love Indian food, although I'm not vegan (or even vegetarian!). However, I recently developed an allergy to eggs, which required HUGE changes to my diet! One of the hardest things to figure out was a quick, easy replacement for the egg tacos I ate pretty much every day for breakfast. I found this recipe and it solved my problem. I've made it as written and it was amazing, but I've also left out the Indian seasonings and topped it with cheese and salsa, or mixed in chopped kimchee to make a Korean-style kimchee pancake. It's been a life-saver during a time when I had to make some difficult adjustments. Thank you for sharing it!
Vaishali says
Hi Devon, I am so thrilled to hear this. What a great idea to use other toppings...I love it!
LJ says
We've been making this for several months now, and feel that we've gotten very good at it, though to be fair, it was good from the start. It's so much fun, and since we've smoothed out our own technique, it's been quick enough to make on a work day breakfast morning. So, for one thing, THANK YOU!
Both of us (the other half loves to cook, too, and he's in charge of the moonglet in the skillet) began to wonder this very morning if the recipe batter, as it stands, could be used to make these as "breakfast muffins" or do you feel it would need a tweak in its chemistry? We're going to eventually try to make it work at a later time, but we're curious if you've tried that yourself?
Love your site... such a plethora of options and fabulous tastes, and above all, very well thought out techniques.
Vaishali says
Hi LJ, that’s so great to hear! The recipe would work great as is for muffins!
Valerie says
This is a real keeper. My first pour stuck to the skillet, so I had to add oil to the pan. But the flavor was great. This will be a go to recipe.
Rindie Coker says
I just made them. Delicious! I used a nonstick griddle and they had just enough crispness to them.
Vaishali says
So happy to hear!
Noelle Callahan says
Hi Vaishali!
How much water should I add? It seems I made them too thick. I don't cook a lot of pancakes or crepes.
Also, how much batter do you pour into the pan.
They tasted good and came out pretty, but I think I can improve on them next time.
And one more--what do you serve with them--sauce or chutney? Do you have a recipe you can point me to?
Thanks!
Noelle Callahan says
I meant pretty well. Yours are much prettier!
Vaishali says
Hi Noelle, you can make the consistency about that of a pancake batter, but if you find that too thick add more water by all means--they will hold together. Just don't make them too crepey.
These will go really great with a tomato chutney or onion chutney. Recipe links below: 🙂
https://holycowvegan.net/rich-and-tangy-tomato-chutney/
https://holycowvegan.net/onion-chutney/
Kevin says
Any advice for preventing sticking to the pan?
Vaishali says
Use a nonstick pan or a well-seasoned cast iron pan. And don't do this with no fat--use at least enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan thoroughly. Wait until browned and the sides start releasing from the pan. These shouldn't stick unless you try to flip them too early, before the underside has browned.
Anne says
How much water is used for this recipe?
Camille says
Just made these for dinner. Very tasty, reminded me of the egg omelets that I used to eat, but Vegan! High protein, good flavour, quick and easy.
I didnt soak the brown rice first because the recipe didn't say so, but your blog did, so I soaked the rice with the dal while I was chopping the aromatics. I had issues with finding the right pan temperature also. Medium high burned them slightly, but lowering it made them stick to the pan. All in all delicious and I will add them to my regular repertoire! Hubby says "mmmm!"
Vaishali says
So happy you enjoyed them! Thanks for pointing out the detail on the rice--soaking them beforehand is preferred, so I'll clarify in the recipe.
Agnes says
Thank you for the Wonderful recipe! Tried it this weekend, we both LOVE it! You are now officially my go to for new vegan recipes! YaY!!!
Rosalee Krahn says
I am not having any success finding this type of lentils. I can find the mung beans (whole, with skins on), or split peas - yellow. Or red lentils, green lentils, even black lentils. Is this a specialty item? I have looked in my usual grocery store as well as an Asian market...help?
Vaishali says
You can use the skin-on beans--soak them for a bit longer, though, overnight would be great.
miss kim clark says
Amazon
Alocasia says
Can't wait to try this. I have had mung bean omelets before and they are delicious. I'd like to make this now, but I only have about a half cup left of the split mung beans. Can I mix them with 1/2 cup yellow lentils?
Vaishali says
Yes, that should be fine. You may need to soak a little longer if they're pigeon pea lentils.
Neena says
I use moong lentils with skin and mix some chana lentils. They taste great as well along with vegetables.
Lester says
Thank you for this enticing recipe? Can I get away without the oil?
Vaishali says
Hi Lester, yes, absolutely, if you make it in a nonstick skillet, but you won't get any crispness. Otherwise it would be great without oil.
Susan Amrita Guerrero says
This looks fascinating! I don’t have any Mung bean lentils on hand. Do you think it worth trying with red lentils or any other type? If I go ahead with Red lentils they might not need to be soaked as long, since they fall apart easily and cook so fast. I don’t know how Mung bean lentils compare. Any thoughts on that? It’s a great concept; I’m very eager to give it a try.
Thank you so much.
Susan Amrita
Vaishali says
Hi Susan, red lentils should be fine, although it'll taste different, of course.
Andrea L WASHBURN says
Are there other spices I could add to it to make it spicier?
Vaishali says
Yes, absolutely. Like I said this is pretty much a blank canvas and you can add all the herbs and spices and veggies you want. Turmeric and/or curry powder would be awesome here. You can also add more cayenne.
Sally-Ann Rudd says
What's the difference between mung beans and mung lentils?
Vaishali says
Beans are whole and lentils are the split version. You can use either in this recipe, so long as they don't have the skin on.
Karen Distefano says
This looks great! To clarify: the rice is uncooked, correct?
Vaishali says
Yes, uncooked!
Anonymous says
The mung beans are also uncooked?
Vaishali says
Yes