Mung Beans With Lentils
Cultivating Harmony • 17 April 2022

How to follow a Chinese medicine lifestyle or diet?

Hello everyone! One of the questions that I get asked all the time is how to follow a Chinese medicine lifestyle or diet. So today I’m going to show you how to make mung beans and lentils over rice and barley. It's one of my go to spring meals and so super simple to make. 

What if you don't have a Chinese grocery store near you?

Don’t stress out and feel like you can’t do this because you don’t have a Chinese grocery store near you or you won’t be able to find all the ingredients. Most can be found locally at your own grocery store. If you do have a Chinese grocery store but you feel like you're entering a kind of uncharted territory you can watch my video here, and see me shopping for some of the ingredients and a few other items that I buy at my own local Chinese grocery store. 

SERVINGS                    PREPPING TIME                    COOKING TIME

6-8                                    15 MIN                                   90 MIN

INGREDIENTS

- Recipe -

Asian grocery store

  • Where do you find mung beans inside the grocery store?

    Dried mung beans can often be found in the aisle where the rice, beans, and other grains are located, or in the bulk foods area. Additionally you can check the international aisles, including Indian or Asian products.

  • What stores sell mung beans?

    Whole Foods: Whole Foods usually have bulk organic mung bean sprouts in the produce area and dried mung beans in the grain aisle.


    Ethnic Markets: A lot of Indian and Mediterranean markets carry organic mung beans, both dried and sprouted.


    Asian Markets: Asian markets are great spots to check for organic sprouted and dried mung beans.


    Your Local Health Food Store: Your local health food store may have bulk mung beans. If you don’t see them, look in other aisles where the packaged organic products are.


    Safeway: Safeway normally carries organic Mung Bean Sprouts in the produce aisle and dried mung beans in the grain aisle.


    Kroger: Most Kroger stores carry truRoots organic mung beans in the organic area of the store. If you can’t find them there then give the area where the rice, beans, and other grains are located a try.


    Publix: Publix supermarkets carry dried mung beans, as well as sprouted. Not all carry organic


    Amazon: If you can’t find mung beans at your local stores then try Amazon. Almost any type of ingredients can be found online.


  • Are mung beans healthy?

    Mung beans are a good source of protein and rich in vitamins and minerals. According to an early research and a review in 2014; suggests that mung beans may have a range of potential health benefits

  • What Are 3 main nutritional benefits of using mung Beans in your diet?

    1. Bone Health: Calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, vitamins K, B6 and folate support bone health.

    (OSU, 2017)


    2. Blood Health: Iron, vitamin B6, folate and vitamin K support healthy blood.

    (Sizer and Whitney, 2016)


    3. Blood pressure: Adequate amount of minerals such as potassium, magnesium and calcium help keep blood pressure in healthy range. (Harvard Medical School, 2017)


bowl of mung beans with lentils

SERVINGS      PREPPING TIME       COOKING TIME

  • 1 cup of mung beans
  • 1 cup of red lentils
  • 1 cup of barley
  • 1 cup of rice
  • 1/2 onion or 3 large scallions
  • 1-3 teaspoons of garlic minced
  • 1-3 teaspoons of cumin
  1. Boil 4 cups of water then add rice and barley. Once the water returns to a boil turn off  stove and lid.
  2. Sauté carrot, onions, garlic, and cumin until color changes.
  3. Then add broth/water mung beans, and lentils. Bring to boil then turn down to medium-low for 30 minutes.
  4. Check liquid level and add more if needed. Lid for another 60 minutes on medium low.
  5. Optional: once cooked, blend with an immersion blender.
  6. Serve over rice and barley combo or leave as is for soup.

1 cup soaked mung beans

1 cup red lentils

1 cup barley

1 cup rice

1 large carrot chopped

1/2 onion or 3 large scallions

1-3 teaspoon garlic minced

1-3 teaspoon cumin

                                                         DIRECTIONS


1. Boil 4 cups of water then add rice and barley. Once the water returns to a boil turn

    off stove and lid.

2. Sauté carrot, onions, garlic, and cumin until color changes.

3. Then add broth/water mung beans, and lentils. Bring to boil then turn down to

    medium-low for 30 minutes.

4. Check liquid level and add more if needed. Lid for another 60 minutes on 

    medium low.

5. Optional: once cooked, blend with an immersion blender.

6. Serve over rice and barley combo or leave as is for soup.


DIRECTIONS FOR RECIPE

Step 1

I start with rinsing a cup of jasmine rice and one cup of barley. I like to run the water over both until the water runs clear. I do this to get rid of about 50% of the arsenic. Then I’ll go ahead and add this to a pot of boiling water. Once the pot returns to a boil I’ll turn the stove top to low. Cook the rice down till it's nice and fluffy and remove from the stove


I soak the mung beans and lentils for a few hours. You can really use whatever type of lentils you like, I prefer red lentils. Now that they have been soaking for a few hours I go ahead and strain them. It isn’t really necessary to soak mung beans but I find they retain their shape a little bit more after cooking and I don’t mind them being a little bit mushy. Mung beans are really quick to sprout, so if you go ahead and soak them overnight you will have beans that are sprouting, and those are really great to cook up in stir fries as well.

Watch My Video Recipe Below

Watch the recipe video below

Step 2

Sometimes it’s just about getting a good healthy homemade meal on the table

So while I’m waiting I’ll go ahead and prepare my onions. I like to use scallions because my kids love them too. I just give them a quick chop along with the carrots. You're going to be adding them to the mung bean and lentil mixture so you don’t have to worry about them being super small or perfect since they’re going to get blended as well. I find that using scissors is a little bit quicker and easier for me instead of dragging out the cutting board, so I use my kitchen shears even for the carrots.


Sometimes it’s just about getting a good healthy homemade meal on the table and the less mess and less stress the better. In addition to the onions and carrots I also chop up some garlic. So when it looks like the rice and barley are almost coming to a boil, you might have to add a little more water, maybe up to ¾ of a cup.

Step 3

No bone broth? No problem, using water is fine

Warm some oil in a pan, I use 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil, then toss in the carrots and scallions, giving them just a quick sear before adding the mung beans, Lentils, and garlic in. Once you add the rest including the garlic your kitchen should start smelling wonderful, and this is just about the time my kids are always coming in the kitchen asking “what am I making it smells so good.”


Finish up adding about 4 cups of bone broth. If you don’t have any stock you can just add water which is fine. I like to use my bone broth because I don’t like anything going to waste and it really adds a little bit of flavor. Give all that a good mix and turn the stove top up to medium-low for about 30 minutes leaving the lid slightly off to let steam escape.

Step 4

Check liquid level, add more if needed. Lid for another 60 minutes on med-low. After 60 minutes it's time to blend up the mung beans and lentils. I use an immersion blender, it makes things a little bit quicker and easier to clean up because the end just pops off. If you don’t have one of these don’t worry you can use a blender or even a potato masher or even leave it how it is. It’s really up to you and your preferences.


Take the mung beans and lentils off the stove and you should be able to see that the lentils have lost a lot of their red color and everything is cooked down good. I like my consistency a little chunky, not super blended. You could really just leave this as a soup and eat it as is with bread.

Go ahead and give your dish a taste

The lentils shouldn’t taste gritty any longer, they should taste creamy. Once you're satisfied go ahead and transfer to plates. There you have it, rice barley and mung bean lentils

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