Thursday, September 19, 2013

Vegan MoFo Day 19 - Tidy-up Thursdays - Mung beans for Hummus


In the past two weeks Tidy-up Thursdays has involved an obscure flour and some old tinned produce which had past it's prime. This week it was time to play with a legume so I selected the most neglected one in my pantry - mung beans. At the moment my pantry is home to 14 different varieties of dried lentils and beans - black beans, pinto beans, red kidney beans, brown lentils, black lentils (urad dal), yellow split peas, red lentils, chickpeas, puy lentils, cannellini beans, soy beans, black eyed beans, Egyptian broad beans and mung beans. That's a lot of legumes! Most of them are used fairly regularly but I haven't been game to use mung beans since my fellows took a dislike to everything I made with them.


To be fair I didn't experiment with them broadly enough and only tried them in a handful of Indian curries. Curries are generally hits rather than misses so it was a bit disheartening that I was the only person enjoying these cute little green legumes. The mung beans were relegated out of sight next to the black eyed beans which are my least favourite. A recipe for Mung bean hummus posted on 101 Cookbooks caught my eye a few months back - there are heaps of different hummus recipes around using so many types of legumes but this was the first one I had seen using mung beans.


Mung beans are a lot easier to prepare than chickpeas as they don't require to be pre-soaked and only take around 30 minutes of cooking to soften so this hummus was pretty easy to whip up from scratch. Heidi's version didn't include cumin but I added some to mine and only used around half the amount of tahini as I was almost out of it. I also made a slightly larger quantity as I had cooked up a very big batch of mung beans. 
   

My fellows were none the wiser when I presented them with this hummus. They could tell that it was different to my standard chickpea hummus yet they had no idea what the secret ingredient was. It did have a slightly earthy flavour although it didn't taste anything like the mung beans we had eaten in the past. The hummus was spread on homemade pita bread along with falafels from Oasis Bakery that had been sitting in the freezer for a while to make falafel wraps. The remainder of the hummus disappeared rapidly mopped up with more pita bread and some baby carrots that had been pulled up from the garden. As this was so successful and I still have lots of cooked mung beans in the fridge I'll be whipping up another batch in the next day or two. Veganosaurus wrote a helpful post about sprouting mung beans a couple of weeks ago which is something I would like to try in the future too.


Mung Bean Hummus (Adapted from 101 Cookbooks)

2 cups cooked mung beans
1/4 - 1/2 cup tahini
3 tablespoons lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 large garlic clove, roughly chopped
1/2 cup (or more) water
olive oil, sliced spring onions and smoked paprika, for garnish

Place the cooked mung beans in a food processor and process on high speed until the beans have broken down into a coarse mixture. Add the tahini, lemon juice, salt, cumin, garlic clove and 1/4 cup of water into the food processor bowl and continue processing. Add 1/4 cup of water (or more) slowly while the food processor is running until the hummus reaches the consistency you are happy with.

Spoon the mixture into a serving bowl and garnish with olive oil, spring onions and smoked paprika.

19 comments:

  1. Oooooh, Mung Bean Hummus! We're doing hummus for Vegan MoFo over on my blog this month, and this is a BRILLIANT idea! Thank you for sharing!

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    1. Thanks Lindsay, it is a great idea although I can't take the credit for it. What a great idea for a theme - I'll have to pop over and check out your hummus posts now!

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  2. I don't know if I have ever bought mung beans but if I did then I think that I would like to sprout them as I buy mung bean sprouts occasionally - so good in salads - putting them in hummus sounds great too - glad it was a success all round

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    1. Thanks Johanna, we aren't that big on salads over here which is why I haven't tried sprouting them yet. With the warm weather coming I am interested in giving this a shot and if we aren't keen on the sprouts then at least I have the hummus recipe to fall back on.

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  3. That's interesting that your guys have typically not liked mung beans in the past. I've always found their flavor to be fairly muted, especially in spicy Indian curries. They're a bean that I often forget; although, I used to order them pretty regularly at a restaurant in LA. I'll have to try your hummus! I agree with you on black eyed peas. They're okay, but not my favorite. They have such a distinct flavor that I don't crave, and so I don't make them very often.

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    1. Thanks Cadry, mung beans seem to have a lot more of an earthy flavour than the other lentils I typically use in Indian curries. Perhaps I haven't made a spicy enough curry with them? Black eyed peas seem to have a pretty strong flavour and I'm yet to find a recipe where I have enjoyed them.

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  4. I've one recently started cooking with mung beans and I'm a bit of a fan. I normally just chuck them in a stew with some curry spices - tasty but not overly creative. I could totally fancy some of that hummus though!

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    1. Thanks Joey, I really loved eating mung beans in curries but as no-one else was keen I stopped making those sorts of meals. Perhaps I could trick them with some different curry recipes?

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  5. Poor old mung beans. I'm glad you found a delicious-looking use for the little guys!

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    1. Thanks Helen, I feel sorry for the poor old mung beans too! They don't seem to be as popular as other legumes.

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  6. I've never had mung beans before (crazy, huh?), but I like the idea of not having to soak and a quick cook time. And I really like anything hummus, so I'll definitely have to try this!

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    1. Thanks Bobbie, the quick cook and no soak time is a bonus. I'm yet to meet a hummus I haven't liked as well ;)

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  7. You definitely have a good selection of legumes! This is a great idea for mung beans - which I'll confess to not loving when I've had them before in more standard ways - and a nice twist on hummus too.

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    1. Thanks Kari, I love having a varied selection of legumes but am inclined to play favourites with the ones I enjoy most. There are so many hummus twists out there these days, it seems to be a blank canvas for creativity!

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    1. Thanks Sandy, I thought it was a great idea too when I read the post a few months ago. I'm really glad I tried it now!

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  9. Thanks Emilie, I'll take a look when I get a chance although Indian food is just one of the cuisines I post about.

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  10. a great idea! i usually make stews with mung beans and sprouts as well. and use them in pizza crusts or flatbreads.. but never made hummus out of them.. cool idea

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    1. Thanks Richa, I'll have to check out your flatbread recipes. That sounds like a great idea for using mung beans too!

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