Green gram is a plant in the legume family. It is cultivated in Asia and is extensively used in savoury as well as sweet dishes. It is used as sweet, snack, cakes, sprouts, noodles and soups. In fact, in many parts of India, it is treated as the best food for convalescence.
This bean is highly valued for its nutritional value. Despite having a high protein composition, it is easily digestible. It is high in protein, nitrogen and has lesser calories compared to other cereals.The bean is split into halves and used in some dishes in India. Hulled moong beans can be used without skin as a soup, or for sweets.
It is an annual vine. It has yellow flowers and it grows in pods. The height of this plant can vary from 6 inches to 49 inches.
It has a good root system with many slender lateral roots. Stems have several branches, some of them curl at the tips. There are several types – trailing or erect or semi-trailing. The erect ones behave like small plants while the trailing ones need a trellis.
The shape of the leaves are ovoid and can be 6 to 12 cm long and wide. There can be 10-20 flowers on the edges and there could be around30-50 pods per plant. Pods can be between 5-10 cms and can contain 12-14 seeds, typically green in colour. It is said that they can be yellow, brown or blue but I have cultivated only the green variety till now.
Procedure
- Soak the whole green gram in water.
- Next day you will observe that it has sprouted.
- Prepare a pot with red soil and plant it in with just a layer of mud on top of it (barely covering it).
- Sprinkle water on it.
- Place it in a spot where there is adequate sunlight.
- Once the root digs in, you will see a set of 2 leaves appearing called the cotyledons.
- Water it a little everyday. Do not let the soil dry out.
- Further leaves start appearing and then the branches.
- It can take upto 60 days to finally reach maturation. Each branch can give multiple seed pods.
- If the pod is soft and immature, the whole pod can be taken for cooking. If it is harder and matured, you can use it for replanting or soak it and cook.
The question that might arise in your mind : How many should I plant? In one pot of 6 inches diameter and 6 inches height, you can put in around 8 seeds. Leave at least one inch space between 2 seeds while planting.
This plant can fix the atmospheric nitrogen and provide nitrogen to the soil. It meets its own requirements as well for the succeeding crops. It can be used between cereal crops for best results. It is considered one of the hardiest of all pulses for growth. All it requires is water and a hot climate.
It is one of the easiest plants to grow in a pot. Of course, the yield might be lesser than on land but I can assure you the home-grown mung bean is immensely tasty. The other benefit: you know exactly what you have put in it. Very healthy option directly made at home.
I do hope you will try growing this plant and taste the actual pods/beans from it. It has a wonderful taste which cannot be beaten by anything you buy from outside. Looking forward to your comments and your story about this plant.
Leave a comment