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Mung Dal Fritters – Baked Moong Dal Pakoda. Petite yellow lentils (split and skinned mung beans) soaked and blended to a batter to make pakoda/Bhajji with onions and greens. Use red lentils or chickpea flour for variation. Vegan Gluten-free Recipe
These easy fritters use moong dal / Mung dal which are split and skinned green moong beans. Moong Dal is often used to make dishes where chickpea flour is used, such as pancakes, fritters /pakora etc. Moong Dal is often called petite yellow lentils in grocery stores like whole foods. See Dal names and photos here. Mung Dal makes soft nutty fritters. Add just onions and greens or add shredded veggies of choice to this versatile batter. You can use red lentils (split red lentils) to make these fritters as well. Red lentil batter does not hold its shape as well.
There are many kinds of pakoda/ pakora/bhajji/fritters in Indian cuisine. Some use besan(gram flour), chickpea flour, other bean or pea flour, some others use soaked moong dal or urad dal to make the batter. Some are simple spiced with cumin, mustard or carom seeds, some use have a tempering with curry leaves, and some others use spice blends. Most are deep fried.
Make these moong dal pakoda for a change from chickpea flour fritters. Serve with Mint Cilantro Chutney or other chutneys of choice or with Kadhi (spiced yogurt sauce). You can also use the batter to make thin pancakes like chickpea flour pancakes and serve for snack or breakfast. Let me know in the comments how they turned out!
More Indian Snacks from the blog
- Baked Masala Vada with split peas and lentils. GF
- Baked Popcorn Okra
- Samosa Pinwheels.
- Baked Mung Dal Samosas
- Baked potato rice crackers – gluten-free
- Baked Maida Papdi – Cumin seed Crackers
Crunchy on the outside and soft inside.
Mung Dal Fritters - Baked Moong Dal Pakoda
Ingredients
- 1 cup moong dal, petite yellow lentils
- 1 inch knob of ginger
- 1 hot green chili , or cayenne to taste 1/4 tsp
- 1/2 to 1 tsp garam masala, or curry powder
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 3/4 to 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp oil
- 1/3 cup or more water
- 1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro, loosely packed
- 1 1/2 cup lightly packed finely chopped spinach , or rainbow chard loosely packed
- 3/4 cup finely chopped red onion, heaped
- 3 cloves garlic , minced
Instructions
- Soak the Mung dal in hot water for 15 minutes or 1 hour. Longer works best. Drain and add to blender. Add ginger, chili, garam masala, turmeric, salt, baking powder, oil and 1/4 cup water. Blend to a smooth thick batter. Add more water if needed. Keep the batter thick so it can hold its shape while baking. Thinner batter tends to flatten.
- Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees F / 220ºc.
- Add the chopped cilantro, greens, onion and garlic and fold in. Using a Tablespoon or ice cream scoop, drop spoonfuls of the batter on parchment lined baking sheet.
- Lightly spray oil on top. Bake for 17 to 19 minutes until golden on the edges.
- Add sprinkle of chaat masala on the fritters (optional). Serve with chutneys Mint Cilantro Chutney or tomato chutney or ketchup or add to kadhi (non dairy yogurt sauce) or curry.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Brilliant! My 4 year old’s school has started a snack schedule and this Monday’s snack was green gram (moong dal). I regularly use it for dals and pongal but what about a snack? Nothing really came to mind so I searched and found this recipe. I remembered to put my moong dal to soak overnight… woke up late! But still managed to make the fritters super quick on the dosa pan while I was running around getting ready, it was sooo easy! And it turned out perfect: my son ate all of the ones I packed and told me they were yummy, and hubs and I enjoyed the rest for breakfast (with ketchup hahaha) Massive success, bookmarked to make again.
Yay! Happy it was hit.