Mung beans, or some call it green beans here, the direct ranslation from Kacang hijau or 禄豆.
Being Malaysians… we love our desserts laced with the fragrance of pandan… which differs it from our pre-migration ancestors.
This mung bean soup uses palm sugar as one of its sweeteners….
Palm sugar + coconut milk = heavenly
And u may substitute the coconut milk here with evaporated milk/creamer, if u have probs with that nutty white extract.
I’m trying to stop all the guesstimation when cooking now….especially when it comes to desserts.
I’ve found that to make 1L of this soup, I need 100gm. Today I used 200gm, so I made 2L of it. Mung beans cook much faster than red beans, so it need not be soaked.
You may substitute the pandan fragrance by using 1 or 2 drops of vanilla.
200gm mung beans
2L water
Few blades of pandan, washed , torn into shreds, and tied into a knot.
100gm palm sugar
120gm sugar
½ cup thick coconut extract (abt ½ coconut)
My Pandan leaves are all wrinkled,
dried out in the fridge, but it's still usable.
1. Bing water to a boil, rinse mung beans and put them together with pandan knot into the boiling water.
2. Cover pot and simmer on low heat for 2 hours.
3. Bring it to high heat for 15 minutes, pot uncovered. Be there to watch. You might need to add some water if the water is greatly reduced.
4. Put in palm sugar and cook until it is completed melted. Taste and adjust with sugar according to preference.
5. Turn off heat and leave pot uncovered for 5 minutes. Put in coconut milk and stir.
6. Serve chilled or warm.
Bringing it to high heat for the last 15 minutes will bring out the starch in the bean, thus making the soup thicker w/o having too much beans in it.
You may put in tapioca/sago pearls in it if u want it even thicker. 2 Tablespoons is sufficient. But I find that when chilled, this soup will be way too thick with tapioca pearls. Don’t forget that mung beans contains starch of their own, unlike red beans/adzuki.
Leaving a comment for you. :D
ReplyDeleteFunny, I never thought of adding coconut extract to mung beans. Maybe I should try one of these days. Thanks.
Ronni,
ReplyDeletethanks for the comment.
Try and let me know how it goes :)
This is a dish I need to make more often. I have been told not only is this cooling but it also has detox properties. Thanks for the reminding me to put in the pandan and coconut - these touches will indeed make the dessert more tasty.
ReplyDeleteMy mom used to cook this with gula melaka and coconut milk too :) We drank the soup but left the mung beans behind :P
ReplyDeleteShirley,
ReplyDeleteDetox huh.... hmmm.. then I must take more.
Blessed Homemaker,
Haha, My siblings and I are opposite, if it's red bean soup, we take the beans leave the soup behind. kekekeke. My mom don't cook mung beans at home due to my 2nd bro's allergy, so it's always red beans. I only discovered the beauty of mung bean soup these few years. But with my mung bean soup, I don't think u can separate the beans from the soup, cos it's floating all around, esp when chilled. :)
Wendy, my mom used to cook it thick like yours but no one ate it. So she had to add more water to make it soupy ;-) For red beans, it's the same thing, we only like the soup :P But recent years, I've learnt to appreciate the beans cooked really mushy with thick soup. Unfortunately my kids only like the soup too. I hope they will appreciate the beans in time to come.
ReplyDeleteBlessed Homemaker,
ReplyDeleteGuess it runs in the genes. My daughter, Lydia loves the beans, just like me.
oh, I din know that we should bring to high heat the last 15 mins...my MIL even likes using the pressure cooker, says it's done in 15 mins plus its texture's smoother. So this is another way...thanks!
ReplyDeleteInteresting, I have never used pandan before. I'll keep an eye out for it. Looks tasty and healthy!
ReplyDeleteMelody,
ReplyDeletePressure Cooker sure smooth ler. All sudah kena picit keluar.
Natasya:
Pandan is usally found in Asian stores. Hope u can find it. But I heard that the fragrance is not as good compared to those found here.
Oh I have missed out so much good food from your kitchen. I love green bean soup and also red bean soup , did not post any so far... pls come over to my home to collect your award , thanks
ReplyDeleteAFTH,
ReplyDeleteU're still on holiday mood eh...
kekekeke. U used to post almost daily...