This incredibly easy-to-make and heart-warming dish was a complete improvisation. I had plenty of mung beans and thinking about how to use them. After checking my fridge, I came up with mung beans with tofu, veggies, and peanuts, a simple yet very filling and interesting meal, inspired by Asian flavors.
The trick in making this dish perfectly, in my opinion, is using an air fryer for the tofu. It gives the spongy soya an unbeatable crust while maintaining the marshmallow-like texture inside.
Clearly, it’s no deal-breaker if you do not own an air fryer and decide to prepare the tofu in the oven – or even in a pan. The flavor will still be amazing and your rich mung bean with veggies a fantastic lunch or dinner to serve even to non-vegans or non-vegetarians 🙂
A bit about the dish star
Mung beans are becoming quite popular in my surrounding in the past years. I can fully understand why this is the case; they are tasty, versatile, low in calories, and high in all the great nutrients!
Another great thing about mung beans is that it isn’t necessary to soak them before cooking.
They are also widely used as sprouted. Soon I will post the very simple way to successfully sprout mung beans, for a super healthy add-on to any meal. I sprinkled them on the dish, too 🙂
Experimenting with flavors
As this is improv, as mentioned, feel free to use different veggies if you prefer them or currently don’t have paprika, onion, and carrots. Instead, you could go with broccoli, spinach, or other deep greens, even cauliflower.
Another change you could consider – and I plan to prepare the next time – is using tomatoes to make the texture more creamy and add the acidic note. In this case, tomatoes would replace the ginger and soy sauce and make for an interesting undertone.
Mung beans go amazingly with coconut and coconut milk. However, I deliberately ditched the coco this time. Firstly, as there is a perfect recipe for nutty mung beans with coconut, and secondly, the peanuts already provide the fat and the creamy (but also crunchy, yum!) note to this lovely mung beans with veggies.
Now, let’s get cooking!
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Mung beans with tofu, veggies, and peanuts (vegan)
Course: Main delights4
servings10
minutes45
minutesSoak in the flavors of Asia with this rich mung bean dish, abundant in flavors and textures. It’s almost impossible not to love it!
Ingredients
300g mung beans
1 large red pepper
1 large or two small carrots
1/2 of silver or purple onion
1 piece fresh ginger (thumb-size)
180g tofu
150g roasted unsalted peanuts
1 tablespoon peanut butter
2-3 tablespoons soya sauce
Olive oil for cooking
Salt and pepper
Juice of 1/2 lemon
- For serving:
Rice
Black sesame
Sprouted mung beans
Directions
- Cook the mung beans until tender (around 30 mins). In the meanwhile, prepare the rest.
- Squeeze the extra liquid from tofu and cut it into cubes.
- Prepare the marinade for the tofu: mix lemon juice, grated 1/2 of ginger you prepared, and 1 tablespoon soy sauce. Place the tofu into the marinade and let it soak for at least 15 mins.
- Cut the veggies and grate the ginger. Grind the peanuts in a chopper.
- Heat the olive oil in a non-stick pan. Add the ginger and then onion, pepper, and carrot. Sautee until tender, for about 10 mins. Add the peanut butter, the rest of the soya sauce, lemon juice, and peanuts. Cook for another 5 mins at medium temperature.
- Get the tofu out of the marinade and grill it either in the oven or air fryer. Bake until you get a golden crust. Remove from the oven and set aside.
- Check if the mung beans are ready. If so, join them with veggies and peanuts. Stir well and add the remaining marinade. Season with salt and pepper, and serve with tofu pieces, black sesame, and mung bean sprouts over rice. Enjoy!