Soon, we’ll be frantically running out to the supermarket to get overlooked ingredients. Soon, we’ll forget what it’s like to shop during the holidays and find ourselves elbowing our way to a check-out line. Soon, we’ll be waiting in line at the post office (something we swore we’d never do again) to get gifts mailed before the last possible hour.
Soon, no matter how hard we try to stay in control, things are going to get crazy.
I love the holiday season, crazy or not. So I say bring it on! As long as I have some lights sparkling in the living room and cookies in the oven at some point throughout the season, I’ll take it.
But we’re all going to need a simple meal. One that doesn’t roast in the oven for hours. The kind of meal you can fix and forget. A meal that has a bit of nutrition and fills you up before you make the decision to eat all the less-than-perfect cookies yourself.
This meal is it.
About 3 1/2 hours of hands-off time in the slow cooker and this warm and hearty soup will be yours.
I’d never cooked mung beans before making this recipe. True to my addiction of hoarding lentil-type dry goods, I picked them up a while back without a clear direction of where to take them in the kitchen. Most recipes I found were stew-like creations so I did a little shake here and there of my favorite spices and cooked them until tender in the slow cooker.
Super simple. Garnish it with some cilantro. I would have stirred in a little swirl of Greek yogurt, but I ate it all for breakfast the day I made this soup. Something I realized as I opened the fridge to grab it. If you want to go nuts, a little pita bread on the side definitely doesn’t hurt.
So sit down in a quiet corner and enjoy a warm meal. Because, soon…
- 1 cup mung beans, rinsed
- 4 cups water
- 1/3 cup light coconut milk
- 1/4 cup diced onion
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger (see Notes)
- 1 tablespoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 3/4 teaspoon of fine ground sea salt (or to taste)
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- Chopped cilantro for garnish
- Place the mung beans in the bowl of a 4 or 5 quart slow cooker. Pour in the water and coconut milk. Stir until the coconut milk blends into the liquid.
- Add the onion, garlic and ginger. Sprinkle in the garam masala, cumin, coriander and turmeric. Stir well.
- Cook on high for 3 1/2 hours, until the beans are very tender. Stir in the salt and pepper. Serve warm sprinkled with cilantro.
- The soup will thicken as it cools. Simply add a little vegetable or chicken stock to thin it when reheating. I've also received some feedback that the amount of fresh ginger used in this recipe may be too much for some. We love ginger so please adjust the amount to your preferences.
The beautiful bowl used for the soup in these photos was made by my talented friend, Tracey, of Salty Sweet Life. A belated birthday present that I could not wait to photograph!
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Beautifully written Lori! This looks like a wonderfully easy respite from the cold and crazy season!
Thank you, Tracey!
I made this tonight. Are you sure you meant 2 TABLESPOONS of ginger, not teaspoons? We followed the recipe faithfully, and it was a bit…overpowered by the ginger.
I’m sorry, I’m going to be more harsh. This was basically inedible with the level of ginger – as in we will be throwing out the rest. Aside from the ginger, it has a nice flavor profile….
Hi Joy,
Thank you for your comment. I’m sorry to hear that you didn’t like the soup. The recipe is correct as written. I use 2 tablespoons of minced fresh ginger from a peeled knob of ginger root. It was minced fine as you would mince garlic. We enjoy the flavor of fresh ginger, so we didn’t find this overpowering. Thanks so much for providing your feedback.
Lori, thanks for clarifying. It might be that my husband didn’t truly mince the ginger…since he was in charge of executing dinner last night I didn’t see it before it went in the pot. He swears he measured, though. I was just surprised because we do like ginger!