Rosemary mung bean bread

This is one of my triumphs. I don’t mind tooting my horn about it because not only do I love it but it’s also a total game-changer. Like dipping bread into olive oil? Tick. Like spreading it with butter? Tick. Well, try ghee and a sprinkling of toasted cumin!

I’ve made so many bread alternatives over the years, and this has got to be one of the easiest to make, and being made with mung beans, easiest to digest. All it requires is delicious, protein-rich, super-cheap mung beans and no flour whatsoever, to make a simple base recipe which you can flavour as you like. Just like the original sourdough breads, this can be fermented overnight for better digestion. Who would have thought that you could get something so fluffy from whole mung beans?

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Serves 8

250g (1¼ cups) whole mung beans, soaked overnight

2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for greasing and to serve

½ tsp garlic powder

1 tbsp chopped rosemary, plus 1 sprig to decorate

½ tsp jaggery

¼ tsp asafoetida

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

½ tsp sea salt, plus extra to serve

juice of 1 lemon (about 4 tbsp)

120ml (½ cup) lukewarm water

freshly ground black pepper, to serve

1 Drain the mung beans and divide them into two equal portions. Blend one portion to a soft pureé with a dropping consistency. Blend the second portion for a few seconds so that you get a rough texture with no whole mung beans remaining. Mix the two portions together in a large bowl. If you can, ferment this paste in a warm spot overnight before continuing to the next step (this makes it better for digestion).

2 Grease a 20cm (8in) cake tin. Preheat the oven to 180°C (fan 160°C/gas mark 4).

3 In another bowl, add the oil, garlic, rosemary, jaggery, asafoetida, bicarbonate of soda, salt and lemon juice to the lukewarm water. Mix well, then immediately add it to the mung bean batter and transfer to the tin.

4 Bake the bread in the oven for 20–50 minutes or until lightly brown on top and springy to the touch. Decorate with the rosemary sprig, then cut into wedges and serve with extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.