Organic Moong Dal Chilka 1kg

The skin stays on

Chilka means the husk. This is split green moong with its green skin still attached — not the polished yellow dal that has had it removed.

That skin is most of the reason to buy it. It carries the majority of the dal's fibre, and it holds the split together during cooking so you get distinct, separate grains instead of a collapsed paste.

If you have only cooked with washed yellow moong, the difference in the pot is immediate.

Unpolished

Polishing is a cosmetic finish. Dal is buffed — often with water, oil, or in the worst cases talc or leather — to produce a uniform glossy grain that looks better in a shop bin.

It removes the outer layer, and with it fibre, some B vitamins and minerals. It is done because shiny dal sells and dull dal does not.

This is unpolished, so it looks like what it is: matte, slightly irregular, green-flecked.

What it carries

Around 24g protein per 100g and roughly 16g fibre — one of the better protein-to-cost ratios in the Indian pantry. Moong is also the most easily digested of the common dals, which is why it is what people are fed when they are recovering from illness.

The skin adds fibre without adding much cooking time, unlike whole moong.

Cooking it

Rinse until the water runs clear. No long soak needed — twenty to thirty minutes is plenty, and it will cook without any.

Pressure cooker: three to four whistles. Open pot: twenty-five to thirty minutes. It holds shape well, so it works for a khichdi where you want texture, for a dry sabzi-style dal, and for chilla batter.

Salt at the end. Salting early toughens the skin.

Organic, 1kg

Certified organic field, no synthetic pesticide or fertiliser input, and lab-tested for residue like everything else we sell.

Keeping it

Airtight, cool, dark. A year comfortably. In humid months a couple of dried neem leaves or a bay leaf in the container is the traditional deterrent for weevils, and it works.