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Green Bean Soup

This is an easy Chinese soup dessert that is cooling and sweet, so it is suitable for the HOT-rible weather in Singapore right now. Green beans (or some call ‘mung beans’) are considered by Chinese as a ‘cooling’ food, and some believe it is a good alternative home remedy for acne (maybe it works by bringing down the body heat?). I just love making this because it’s so easy and tasty.

Note: I heard that females should avoid consuming this during ‘that time of the month’ as this is too cooling and may cause heavier flows =x

Green Bean Soup 绿豆汤
(with gingko nuts & sago)

Close up

Ingredients
(Serves 4)

- 125g Green Beans (aka mung beans) - soaked overnight and drained
- 2 Pandan (aka Screw Pine) Leaves, dried ends cut, tied in a knot
- 1.25 litres water
- 50g rock sugar
* 3 small pieces of dried orange (tangerine) peel
* 50g canned lotus seeds or gingko nuts
* 1/3 cup sago (small tapioca pearls)

* are optional items

Directions
1. Place water, orange peel and pandan leaves in a pot and bring to boil.
2. Reduce the fire, add beans and lotus seeds/gingko nuts and simmer, partially covered, for about 30-50 minutes (or till beans are soft). Add some hot water if needed. Add sugar to taste during the last 5-10 minutes of cooking.

3. Read below only if you are adding sago.
(credits: The following technique of making the perfect tapioca pearls is taken from Jaden of Steamy Kitchen when I was recipe-testing for her new cookbook. Thanks Jaden!!)

Soak tapioca pearls in cold water for 20 minutes. The pearls will expand and turn bright white. Drain. In a medium pot, bring water to a boil. When water boils, turn off heat and add the drained tapioca pearls and stir constantly for 1 1/2 minutes, or until the pearls are translucent with a very small white center. Taste the tapioca, it should be soft but not goopy. Drain the tapioca in fine mesh sieve and run cold water through the sieve to stop the tapioca pearls from cooking further. Swish with your hands to make sure that the pearls at the bottom of the sieve have a chance to cool down. Drain and add to the green bean soup.

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This is my first entry for Grow Your Own, featuring my home-grown pandan leaves. I stay in a flat (apartment) and I grow mainly edibles, in small pots along the corridor. My tiny current collection includes chili padi, mint, curry leaves, coriander, capsicum, rosemary … & pandan leaves of course. I’m taking part in this event to remind myself to take better care of my plants, after killing SEVERAL since I started my growing-edibles hobby =x It’s handy to have a pot of pandan leaves nearby, as you can snip the leaves only when you need them (versus many other edibles that need to be harvested) and you won’t ever need to buy a HUGE pack from the supermarket whenever you need just 1-2 leaves. Convenient and saves money. For those who’s inexperienced in gardening like me, here’s the good news - Pandan is one of the most easy plants to care for, seeming to thrive in neglect. Having said that, I must admit that I almost killed my current one after chopping off its roots and transplanting them to another pot … My fingers are so not green, heh. Anyway, hope to take part in more GYO events in future!

My home-grown pandan leaves (when it’s in better days)

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Tags: dessert, green bean, green bean soup, mung bean, orange peel, pandan

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