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Serves: 4
Prep time: 30 mins
Total time:
Recipe photograph by Martin Poole
Recipe by Noor Murad
‘This recipe, which I know by heart, is humble and effortlessly unglamorous,' exlains chef Noor. 'When I told Bahera, a lady well-versed in the art of Persian cooking, that I’d bring her dish to life at the test kitchen, she laughed, and rolled her eyes. Bahera’s family moved from Iran to Kuwait before she ended up in Bahrain with her family; I knew her daughter before I could really form sentences. You’ll mostly find Bahera in the kitchen, in a flurry of aubergines and potatoes, saffron and rice, but the highlight for me was always her tamarind greens and mung beans. The dish is sour from the tamarind, earthy from the chard and hearty from the mung bean. The surprise is the curry powder, not a taste typical with Southern Iran but as is the case with the food of immigrants, a beautiful amalgamation of multiple cultures.’
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Mains Vegetarian Vegetables Gluten-free Dairy-free Middle Eastern Vegan
Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
422Kcal
Fat
25gr
Saturates
5gr
Carbs
33gr
Sugars
13gr
Protein
13gr
Salt
2gr
Noor Murad
Bahraini-born chef Noor now heads up the Ottolenghi test kitchen. In 2021, she co-authored Ottolenghi Test Kitchen Shelf Love (Ebury Press, £25) with Yotam Ottolenghi
See more of Noor Murad’s recipes
Noor Murad
Bahraini-born chef Noor now heads up the Ottolenghi test kitchen. In 2021, she co-authored Ottolenghi Test Kitchen Shelf Love (Ebury Press, £25) with Yotam Ottolenghi
See more of Noor Murad’s recipes
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Ingredients
- 105ml olive oil (7 tbsp)
- 2 large onions, thinly sliced
- 10 garlic cloves, 5 crushed and 5 thinly sliced
- 2 green chillies, finely chopped (seeds and all)
- 2 tsp cumin seeds, roughly crushed in a pestle and mortar
- 1 tsp mild curry powder
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 120g dried mung beans, soaked in plenty of cold water for at least 1 hour, then drained
- 1kg Swiss chard, stalks reserved for another use and leaves roughly shredded
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- 1 tsp sea salt flakes
- 3 tbsp tamarind paste
- 40g fresh coriander, roughly chopped, plus a handful of leaves to serve
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
- ½ tsp chilli flakes (optional)
- ½ lemon
- 130g dairy-free natural yogurt
- white rice, to serve (optional)
Step by step
Make it your own
Swap out the chard for about 500g spinach or other leafy greens.
- Heat 4 tablespoons of the oil in a large sauté pan, for which you have a lid, on a medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook for 15–18 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened and deeply browned. Transfer a third of the onions to a bowl and set aside. To the pan, add the crushed garlic, chillies, cumin seeds, curry powder and tomato purée and cook for another minute. Add the drained soaked mung beans and 800ml of water and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down to medium, cover with a lid and leave to simmer gently, stirring occasionally, for about 30–35 minutes, or until the mung beans have softened but still retain their shape.
- Add the chard, sugar, salt and a good grind of pepper, then replace the lid and cook for another 10 minutes. Remove the lid and cook for 10 minutes more, uncovered, or until the chard has softened and the liquid has thickened. Stir in the tamarind and coriander and keep warm until ready to serve.
- Towards the last 10 minutes, put the remaining 3 tablespoons of oil and the sliced garlic into a small frying pan and place it on a medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the garlic is lightly golden, about 12 minutes. Add the turmeric and the chilli flakes and remove from the heat.
- Transfer the mung bean mixture to a large shallow bowl and squeeze over the lemon half. Top with spoonfuls of the yogurt, followed by the reserved onions, then spoon over the crispy garlic and its spiced oil. Lastly, garnish with the handful of coriander. Serve on its own or with rice.
