Split Pigeon Pea and Yellow Mung Lentils with Rice

For lunch, I cooked split pigeon pea with yellow mung beans, finished with a mustard oil tempering, and served with plain rice. 

I added the yellow mung beans because I had both and wanted both. 

The mung beans blend right into the pigeon pea and give the lentils a creamier texture than you’d get from pigeon pea alone. 

But flavor mainly comes from the Tempering, and that part has a specific order to it that I’ll explain as we go through it.

Ingredients

For the Lentils

• 250g split pigeon pea
• 50g yellow mung beans
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 green cardamom
• 3 cloves
• 4 green chilies, sliced
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp salt
• Water to cover (about 1 inch above the lentils)

For the Rice

• 400g basmati rice, washed and soaked
• 800g water
• 1 tsp salt

For the Tempering

• 70g mustard oil
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 pinches asafoetida
• 5 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 dried red chilies
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 medium tomato, chopped
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 50g water

To Finish

• Fresh Coriander, chopped.

Soak Both Lentils and Set Up Your Spice Plates

Firstly, wash the pigeon pea and yellow mung beans together and soak them in a bowl of water for 10 minutes. 

Also wash the rice and put it in a separate bowl to soak. 

I soaked the rice longer than the lentils because rice responds better to more soaking time, and 10 minutes isn’t really enough for it. 

While both are sitting in water, set up your spice plates.

You need two separate plates here: one for the spices that go into the lentil cook, and one for the tempering spices. 

• On the lentil spices plate, you have to put the bay leaf, green cardamom, cloves, sliced green chilies, turmeric, and salt. 
• On the tempering plate, put the cumin seeds, asafoetida, chopped garlic, dried red chilies, chopped onion, chopped tomato, and all four ground spices. 

Having all of this ready beforehand will make the cooking much smoother, especially since you’ll be running two stoves at the same time.

Lentils Into the Pressure Cooker, Rice on the Second Stove

Drain the soaked lentils and add them to your pressure cooker. 

Pour in enough water to come about 1 inch above the lentils, then add all the lentil spices at once: bay leaf, green cardamom, cloves, green chilies, turmeric, and salt. 

Put the lid on and cook on medium flame for 2 whistles, then turn off the gas and let the pressure release naturally on its own. 

Let the lentils keep steaming inside; don’t open the lid yet.

Meanwhile, start the rice on a second stove, drain the soaked rice and add it to a pot with 800g of water and 1 tsp salt. 

Bring it to a boil, then lower the flame and let all the water be absorbed completely. 

So you have two things going at the same time here: the pressure cooker releasing pressure on one side, and the rice finishing up on the other. 

While the rice is doing its thing, get the Tempering going.

Prepare the Tempering in the Right Order

1. Warm 70g of mustard oil in a pan on medium flame until it’s properly hot, then add the cumin seeds; they’ll crackle almost right away. 
2. Right after that, add the 2 pinches of asafoetida; it only needs a few seconds of heat, then it’ll release its flavor, and if you leave it too long, it will burn. 
3. Then add the chopped garlic and stir until it turns golden, about 1 minute.
4. After the garlic is golden, add in the 2 dried red chilies and let them fry in the oil for a few seconds. 
5. Then add the chopped onion and stir continuously until it becomes properly golden. 
6. Once the onion is done, add the chopped tomato and cook for a couple of minutes until it softens and breaks down. 
7. Then add all four ground spices: turmeric, ground coriander, red chili powder, and salt. 
8. Pour in 50g of water, mix everything together, and cook on medium flame for 7 minutes, stirring regularly. The masala will darken and thicken, and the oil will start to separate at the edges. That’s when it’s ready.

Tip: Don’t try to speed this up with a higher flame, because you’ll get the outside browned while the inside is still raw, and you’ll taste that in the finished lentils. 

Pour the Tempering In, One More Boil, then add Coriander

Open the pressure cooker once the pressure has fully released; the lentils should be soft and broken down into a thick, soupy consistency. 

Check the rice too; if you started both together, they should be finishing up around the same time.

Pour the hot Tempering into the lentils and mix it in well, then put the lentils back on the stove for one more short boil so the tempering flavor can distribute through everything. 

Without that final boil, the Tempering will sit concentrated in parts, and you won’t get a consistent flavor in every spoonful. 

Once the boil is done, add some fresh coriander on top and take it off the heat. 

I added the Coriander after the final boil rather than right before it, but you can do either, and it will work fine both ways.

What to Use If You’re Missing an Ingredient

For the lentils, if you only have split pigeon pea, use 300g of it and skip the yellow mung beans entirely. The texture will be grainier, but the flavor will stay the same because the Tempering will do most of the work. 

Yellow mung beans on their own also work in the same ratio; just know they break down faster than pigeon pea, so the finished lentils will be thicker and smoother. 

For the oil, ghee gives a richer, a little buttery result and is a common substitute that tastes good here. 

You can also use regular cooking oil; it’s neutral, so the flavor will come from everything else in the Tempering. 

But mustard oil is my preference because of the sharp edge it adds.

Plus, you can skip asafoetida; you won’t notice much difference without it, because It’s two pinches in a dish with garlic, onion, tomato, dried chilies, and four ground spices, so its absence won’t stand out at all.

If you wanna cook lentils another way, you’ll like the whole brown lentil with rice recipe.

How These Lentils Behave After They Sit

These lentils thicken up quite a bit once they cool down, and later they turn much denser after a while, which is completely normal. 

When you reheat them, you have to add a small splash of water and stir it through before serving. 

Add the water a little at a time and check the consistency as you go, because you want it pourable again but not watery.

Keep the lentils and rice in separate containers if you’re storing leftovers. 

And you can keep lentils well for 2 to 3 days in the fridge. For the rice, I recommend you make as much as you’ll eat in one sitting because reheated absorption-method rice becomes clumpy and dries out. 

If you do need to reheat it, add a small splash of water, cover the pot, and heat it on low flame for a couple of minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I really need to soak the lentils before pressure cooking?

Yes, for a pressure cooker, 10 minutes of soaking is recommended (by me), because soaked lentils cook more evenly, and you’re less likely to end up with some grains overdone while others are still firm. 

And I soaked rice longer because rice really does respond to more soaking time.

Can I make this without a pressure cooker?

Cook the lentils in a regular pot instead: add them with the spices and enough water to keep them well covered, put the lid on, and cook on medium flame for around 30 to 40 minutes, but keep checking occasionally and adding water if the level drops too low. 

You’ll still get the same result as the pressure cooker version, but everything else in the recipe will stay exactly the same.

Why does the Tempering go in at the end instead of cooking with the lentils from the start?

When you cook the Tempering separately and pour it in at the end, the spiced oil hits the lentils fresh, and the flavors stay distinct. 

If you added everything from the beginning and cooked it all together like the fried onion, garlic, and tomato base, they’d blend into the lentils over the whistles, and you’d lose the contrast between the two. 

What can I serve this with besides rice?

I like bread and paratha. If you’re serving it with flatbread, make the lentils thicker so they scoop and not pour; for that, you’ll need to use a little less water in the pressure cooker or let the final boil go a bit longer. 

With rice, the consistency you get from this recipe is already right; you can also serve this as a light meal on its own in a bowl without any bread or rice, especially if the lentils are on the thicker side.

Can I freeze a batch of these lentils?

Yes, these lentils freeze well. Let them cool completely, portion them into airtight containers, and freeze for up to a month (but I never like eating after a month)

And when you’re ready to eat, thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat on low flame with a splash of water to loosen the consistency.