Easy Chinese Sweet Mung Bean Soup 綠豆沙

Name: Easy Chinese Sweet Mung Bean Soup 綠豆沙
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Total time: 1 h 35 min
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: 2 Cups Green Mung Beans 绿豆; 1 piece Dried Chinese mandarin peel 陳皮; 50g rock sugar 冰糖; 6 Cups Cold Water; ¼ cup Dried Lotus Seeds 乾白蓮子; ¼ cup Fresh or Dried Lily Bulbs 乾白合; 1/4 cup Raw Coix Seeds 生薏米; 5-6 Red Dates 紅棗

Oct 5, 2022 · 74 Comments

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綠豆沙 Sweet Mung Bean Soup is a delicious, refreshing and hearty Chinese dessert that can be served hot or as a chilled dessert soup. So quick and easy to make in an Instant Pot pressure cooker, this Traditional Chinese Medicine sweet soup made with green beans, tangerine peel, and other herbs requires no soaking. A bowl of this liver detoxing recipe guarantees to restore the balance in your body from eating too much heaty food and help to remove dampness!

> In This Post: Everything You'll Need For Making Chinese Mung Bean Soup Recipe

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> In This Post: Everything You'll Need For Making Chinese Mung Bean Soup Recipe
Ingredients and Substitutes
TCM Health Benefits of Chinese Herbs
How To Make Chinese Sweet Green Bean Soup Recipe
What To Serve With Deliciously Chinese Mung Bean Recipes
> Recipe
Easy Chinese Sweet Mung Bean Soup 綠豆沙

Green bean soup (Lǜdòu shā, 綠豆沙/綠豆汤) is a classic Chinese tong sui. Tong Sui 糖水, translated as "sugar water', is commonly served at the end of meals in most Chinese restaurants. Sweet Red Bean Soup is one of those dishes that encompasses nostalgia and childhood memories.

There are many variations of this green bean soup: some people like to add red mung beans, lotus seeds, lily bulbs, black glutinous rice, tapioca pearls, sago pearls, grass jelly, and even dried seaweed to it!

But the traditional green bean soup base is consistently made with green mung beans, rock sugar and Chinese mandarin peel.

Ingredients and Substitutes

Other Chinese Herbal Ingredients Used

Raw Coix Seeds 生薏米
Dried Lily Bulbs or Fresh Lily Bulbs 百合
Dried Lotus Seeds / Semen Nelumbinis Nuciferae 蓮子
Red Dates 紅棗

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TCM Health Benefits of Chinese Herbs

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Green Mung Beans 绿豆 - These small beans with green skins are a good source of fibre that is high in nutrients and antioxidants. Mung beans are sweet in taste, cool in nature, and enter the heart and stomach meridian. Its properties cool away heat, detox the liver, relieve summer heat and quench thirst.

Unlike making Moong Dal in Indian cuisine, there isn't a perfect mung bean substitute in this Traditional Chinese Medicinal Green Mung Bean soup. Specifically, green mung beans are used for their cooling effect during hot summer days to reduce internal body heat.

Note: large amounts of green mung beans should be avoided by pregnant women because their nature is too "cold" for the human body.

For other cooking applications, the best substitutes for whole mung beans would be lentils, yellow beans, marrow beans, or fava beans.

Dried Chinese Mandarin Peel 陳皮 - Aged tangerine peel is soothing and normalizes your meridians. It helps relieves cold and reduces phlegm, congestion and stagnation of Qi. It improves digestion, reduces dampness and promotes spleen functions. Choose dried Chinese mandarin peels that are well aged.

Rock Sugar 冰糖 - Our sweetener of choice, rock sugar, clears heat and nourishes Yin. This natural sweetener invigorates the central meridian, improves Qi, moisturizes the lungs, quenches thirst and relieves coughs and phlegm. If you are short on rock sugar, consider using Cane Sugar or Brown Sugar. White sugar is not suitable because it is too heaty.

Raw Coix Seeds 生薏米 - It has the appearance of a deep concave on one side. Its primary characteristic removes dampness and wind - suitable to drink during Spring. Its nature is cold and suitable for people with hot bodies. Raw coix seeds invigorate the spleen, relieve diarrhea, and improve spleen and intestinal pain.

Dried Lily Bulbs or Fresh Lily Bulbs 百合 - Lilium lancifolium nature is cold and helps lower heat, relieve coughs, dry throats and other respiratory conditions like chronic bronchitis, asthma, etc. Its properties treat restlessness and irritability and promote restful sleep.

Lotus Seed / Semen Nelumbinis Nuciferae 蓮子 – Dried lotus seeds are sweet and promote the spleen, kidney and heart. Those suffering from insomnia will find comfort in its 'de-heating' properties. Lotus seeds also reduce hemorrhaging.

Red Dates 紅棗 - Jujubes are sweet and warm and enter the heart, spleen, and stomach meridians. It tonifies and improves the digestive system's motility. Choose unpitted red dates because their seeds inherently calm the mind and promote relaxation.

If you insist on sweetening further, consider adding a few Red Dates instead of dried candy dates. Red Dates are blood-nourishing without the sugar content of dried honey dates.

Pro Tip: Sugar increases the dampness and heat in the body. It is recommended not to over-sweeten your desserts.

Herbal ingredients and dry goods can be purchased at your local Asian grocery store, Chinese herbalist or Online.

How To Make Chinese Sweet Green Bean Soup Recipe

Wash and rinse Chinese herbs and dry ingredients.

Although optional, we recommend you soak the herbs for 20 minutes in a small bowl to remove traces of impurities. This will help remove dust and debris. Rinse and set aside in a small bowl.

Also, soak aged, dried tangerine peel separately in a small bowl. Take a small teaspoon once the orange peel softens and scrape off the white pith. This will remove the bitterness.

There are a couple of methods you can cook authentic Sweet Mung Bean Soup.

Double Stew Method
Stove Top Method
Instant Pot Mung Bean Soup Method

Double Stew Method

I typically double-stew my Chinese dessert soup recipes in the Buydeem Health Beverage Maker.

It is easy to use, and I do not need to watch the water boils for long hours of cooking time.

Simply put all the main ingredients into the stew pot and fill the main kettle with 1.5 litres of water.

Turn on the stewing "dessert" function for 60 minutes or the "soup" function for 90 minutes. Both cooking times work. It depends on how "broken down" you prefer your whole mung beans to be.

Stovetop Method

If you cooking this Green Bean Soup Recipe on the Stovetop, add all the ingredients into a large pot not made of stainless steel like this Perfect Pot.

Although not all Chinese herbs react with metal, it is best not to use a metal pot when making Chinese medicinal herbal soups.

Cover ingredients with cold filtered water and boil at high heat.

Once the hot water is boiling, reduce heat to low heat and continue cooking for 90 minutes.

If you prefer this sweet dessert soup to have a thicker consistency, in the end, boil it for a few minutes to reduce a little water.

Instant Pot Method

Making sweet mung bean soup instant pot is just like making adzuki beans soup. It is super easy and can be done without soaking!

Using an Instant Pot pressure cooker reduces the cooking time by half!

Pressure cooking cooks a pot of beans without soaking a fraction of the time compared to using an electric pressure cooker or a slow cooker.

In the past, so much time is used prepping and soaking the beans overnight!

The perfect way to cook this Hong Kong-style green bean soup is to pressure cook on high pressure for 45 minutes and let it naturally release pressure. The natural release will take approximately 20 minutes. If you are in a hurry, just Quick Release.

Afterwards, I like to emulsify my Chinese mung bean soup by bringing the soup to a boil using the "Soup Mode" - I find this brings out the nutty flavours of legumes better!

Adding Sugar and Sweeteners

Chinese people prefer a light sweet taste compared to Western desserts. Once the green bean soup is done cooking, stir in rock sugar to your desired sweetness level.

Refrigerations and Storage

Green Bean Soup can keep its freshness in an airtight container for up to 2 to 3 days in the refrigerator.

After boiling, let it cool to room temperature before transferring it to the fridge. I like storing Asian sweet soup in large mason jars in summer.

It is the perfect way to clear toxins after a hot day of play outside! This sweet soup is a good source of fibre. Plus, the kids love it!

What To Serve With Deliciously Chinese Mung Bean Recipes

Serve this easy recipe, either hot or cold. On hot days, I enjoy a chilled bowl of sweet mung bean soup with coconut milk, similar to this Chinese people's favourite Red Bean Soup with Coconut Milk 椰汁紅豆沙.

Love instant pot Asian desserts? Check out these red bean soup, mango pudding, Papaya Dessert with Snow Fungus recipes.

I'd love to see how you went with this liver detoxification sweet dessert soup recipe! Leave a comment below or tag me on Instagram @INSTANOMSS #INSTANOMSS.

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