Healing Mung Bean Soup
Feeling Lethargic? Bloated? Tired? Not quite yourself? Is your digestion playing up? Do you have a thick white coating on your tongue? Then it might be time for a mung bean soup cleanse! This amazing astringent bean has been favoured in indian and asian cuisine for centuries for its medicinal properties. Mung beans have amazing colon cleansing properties: the fibres in mung beans have a scraping function that literally scrape your colon clean and the astringent taste tones and enlivens your digestive organs, spells out mucus from your GI tract and helps to cleanse toxins and parasites from your gut. This grounding and restorative soup is great for all three doshas: nourishing whilst at the same time light, cleansing and cooling. Enjoy this recipee as a once a week staple or as a re-set and do a 3 x day Mung Bean soup cleanse.
Ingredients
- 1 x teaspoon olive oil if on a cleanse skip the oil
- 1 x garlic clove chopped
- 1 x small onion chopped
- 2 -3 celery stalks chopped
- 1 x teaspoon ground tumeric
- 1 and a half cups mung beans soaked overnight
- Optional: 1 and a half x cup chopped tomatoes or one tin of tomatoes
- 1 Liter vegetable stock
- 2 x bay leaves optional
- 3 x medium to large carrots chopped
- handfrul fresh coriander parsley or both, chopped
- 1 x tablespoon lupine sauce or coconut aminos - optional
- half a teapsoon cumin seeds grind in pestle and mortar
- half a teaspoon coriander seeds grind in pestle and mortar
- salt and pepper to taste
- half a teaspoon fennel seeds grind in pestle and mortar
- 3/4 teaspoon mustard seeds optional
- Optional: add leafy greens of your choice such as kale spinach, lambs lettuce, etc.
Instructions
- Add the olive oil to a medium pot and warm on low to medium heat (If on a cleanse and not using oil, skip this step).
- Add the chopped onion and garlic and sauté for a few minutes until translucent (if on cleanse simply fry in a bit of water).
- Grind the cumin, coriander, fennel and mustard (optional) seeds in a pestle and mortar and add to the onion & garlic mix. Keep stirring for a while over low to medium heat until the onions and garlic are covered nicely in the spice mix. Add the turmeric and keep stirring.
- Add celery and carrots and sauté until just about soft.
- Now add the mung beans (important: ensure these have been soaked overnight). Stir well into the spice and onion mix. Keep stirring on medium heat for few minutes.
- Now add the water and the stock. Add in tomatoes if using (optional). Submerge bay leaves, and bring everything to a boil. Season with salt and pepper.
- Reduce heat and simmer covered with a lid for 45 minutes.
- Remove from heat and discard bay leaves. Stir in cilantro, or parsley or both and add the lupine sauce or coconut aminos (if using).
- Taste again and add more salt and pepper if needed.
- Serve!