Mung Beans

larmy16

I am sure I read somewhere that mung beans do not need pre-cooking. I put them in to soak this morning and this evening made a curry with them - cooked about 40 minutes and they were very chewy and hard. Now should I have boiled them for 20 minutes to soften them up or are they meant to be bullety?? Sadly, what should have been a lovely curry has been relegated to the bin and I hate to waste food.

I recently bought a sprouter jar so I suppose I could use them up in that. I don't seem to have much luck with dried beans, which is why I generally buy the tinned ones.

Advice anyone??

adouglasmhor

They sprout really well but I always have pre cooked them.

Red_Cat

They should be soft. My wife pressure cooks them and they are lovely in a curry.

larmy16

adouglasmhor wrote: »

They sprout really well but I always have pre cooked them.

May I ask how long you cook them for??? Cheers

Gingernutmeg

Were they old? I once tried to cook some admittedly ancient white beans, and even after a good two hours they were still like something from Tutankhamun's tomb. Old beans never go soft lol.

Gingham_Ribbon

I haven't cooked mung beans in years, but they shouldn't take more than an hour and though presoaking helps, it's not essential.

Old beans will stay tough as ginger says. Cooking in salted water (or with salty stock cubes) can make them stay tough. Cooking them in tomato sauce can have the same effect.

Hope that helps.

larmy16

Well I bought them last week from Waitrose, so they should be good quality?? However if they were old prior to that, who can say. I will try again, but boil them beforehand, say for 40 mins - maybe previous poster (thanks) can advise.

Gingham it may be the tinned tomatos that made them go hard. Will add them afterwards in future. The curry was lovely but the beans were not!!

Red_Cat

Best cook the mung beans separately and than put them into whatever you are making.

We buy big bags of dried pulses from Asian shops (2kg bags) and store them in plastic jars in our larder. They seem to keep well - it takes us 6 months to use them and only rarely are they tough.

Black eyed peas are yummy too, I recommend them.

Tashja

Hi Larmy

Please would it be possible for you to post the recipe for your curry.

I have a bag of Mung Beans here to use and really don't know what to do with them.

Also I have a sprouting jar/box here but it has been ages since I used it and I have lost the instructions Can someone tell me how to sprout these Mung Beans in it.

Thank you all so much

T xx

larmy16

Will post recipe later as a bit rushed - on my lunch break!:)