Dal is a soup made of split yellow lentils or mung beans. They cook similar to red lentils, breaking down into a creamy stew. Ayurveda is obsessed with mung beans because they are the easiest legume to digest and assimilate, meaning no extra energy is wasted on digestion. They are packed with protein and fiber and have a scraping, cleansing effect on the gut. Soups like kitchari and dal are eaten during sickness, given as baby’s first food, and consumed during spiritual cleansing. I make a mung bean soup weekly, always changing the veggies based on what I have. I had some kale and diced tomatoes so this became a Christmas colored warming meal. If you have high pitta (internal heat, sometimes manifesting as heartburn) you can leave out the pungent onion and garlic and go easy on the tomatoes, though the turmeric, kale, and cabbage bring balance with bitter and astringent tastes.
Ingredients:
1 T ghee
1 T minced fresh turmeric or 1 tsp ground turmeric
1 T minced fresh ginger or 1 tsp ground ginger
1 clove garlic smashed and minced
1 small onion, chopped small
1/4 of a green cabbage, chopped thin
1 cup diced canned tomatoes, or 1 fresh tomato sliced, inside grated on a box grater, skins discarded
1 cup split yellow mung beans, rinsed well
6 cups water
2 big handfuls kale, chopped small
1 tsp pink salt
In a medium soup pot melt ghee and sauté turmeric and ginger a couple minutes, then add garlic and onions, cooking until onions soften, around 3 minutes. Add cabbage and soften another 3-5 minutes.
Add tomatoes and mung beans and stir to coat about a minute.
Add water and bring to a boil then turn down to simmer, partially covered, for 20 minutes or until mung beans split and are very soft.
Add kale, cover and let steam for about 4 minutes. Turn off heat, add salt and stir it up. We like to top this with nutritional yeast.