Sweet Mung Bean Soup

[fitfool]

I love sweetened mung beans as a dessert and snack. I like it cold out of the fridge, really cold mixed in with shaved ice, or warm and soothing heated up. You can adjust how much sugar to add to suit your own tastes. You can buy these dried beans at an Asian grocery store. Possibly available at regular stores too in the international foods section or maybe health foods bulk bins though I've never looked anywhere besides Chinatown for these.

Found recipe at http://www.eatingchina.com/recipes.html#mungbean

Sweet Mung Bean Soup (lu dou tang)
Mung beans, according to Chinese, have a 'cooling' effect on the body, so this is a very popular snack in summer. The dish can also be served hot. A refreshing summer snack or dessert. Very easy to make.
Serves 6

Ingredients
1/2 cup of mung beans
6 cups of water
5 tablespoons sugar or to taste

Method
Soak the beans overnight, or least for 4 hours, in plenty of water.
Place in a large pot, add the water.
Bring to a boil, add sugar, stir, and simmer for 1 hour.
Let cool, then refrigerate for 1 hour, and serve

Seeing this post (http://community.livejournal.com/cooking/3536473.html) reminded me to post this one of my own. Go read that thread if you want more ideas of things to do with mung beans.

Thread at food_porn

Comments

[sahm.livejournal.com]

mung bean smoothies are some of my favorites. i also love foods that are filled with mung beans. and they're so healthy for you!

definitely one of the things i miss most while at college :/

[damsaeldaemon.livejournal.com]

Do you find that mung beans are hard on your sensitive?

I made a mung bean/brown rice dish a couple of weeks ago, and while it was delicious and hearty, it was really hard on the digestive track (sorry tmi).

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

I've never noticed any ill effects to my digestive system with mung beans. I find them to be a very filling and satisfying dish but not hard on the system at all. Guess I got lucky. Or maybe it was just a bad day for you? Have you tried them again?

[sahm.livejournal.com]

nope, never had any trouble....hopefully it was just a fluke for you!

[damsaeldaemon.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I hope so. I was on a bit of a weird cleansing at the time, so I guess I'll give it another whirl!

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

mung bean smoothies? Interesting...how do you make them?

[sahm.livejournal.com]

Prepare the beans, sweeten them, and then add milk/ice, basically....I also make tapioca bubbles if I'm in a bubble tea mood :)

Yesterday I linked someone to this (http://www.recipezaar.com/115523) recipe for banh phu the, which are one of my favorite things to eat (luckily I can't get them all the time!)

If you prepare the 'filling' part of that recipe, it works well in smoothies :)

You can also make red bean smoothies...

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

I want to try banh phu the! And a red bean smoothie sounds downright irresistible.

[sahm.livejournal.com]

they're very similar to the mochi you made a while back, at least in practice :)

pretty simple, but the batter is *really* sticky. I made them without the coconut (I'm not such a fan) or the 'essence'...really, to me, it's just a matter of the glutinous starch batter (we used tapioca starch) and the sweet mung bean filling.

I love most things with odd textures (jello-stuff especially...the only exception that comes readily to mind is Gefilte fish, which I can't stand :P)

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

I've never tried Gefilte fish. They look kinda weird in the bottles I've seen in the grocery store.

[sahm.livejournal.com]

I just...can't reconcile the sponge-like texture with the fishy taste. One of the things I love about seafood is the texture!

Not to bias you completely against them. I've known people who like them well enough :P

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Spongy? No one's ever mentioned that aspect of the fish. Weird. Yeah, it'll probably be many years yet before I end up trying it. I don't think I know anyone who eats that.