Green Mung Bean Dessert Soup 綠豆沙

San Francisco's summer is no typical summer at all, but I found it too warm inside my body (due to pregnancy?). When I was young, Mom used to cook this sweet green bean soup (pronounced as look-dau-sa in Cantonese) every summer. We had it hot, right after it was cooked. Then, Mom kept some in the fridge and some in the freezer. The cold soup and the popsicles were as good as the hot soup!

According to the Chinese medicine, green mung bean has a cooling effect and can relieve the internal heat in your body. I guess that is why it is such a popular summer dessert in Hong Kong.

Prep time: 5 or 60 mins
Cook time: 45 minutes
Total time: Less than 2 hours
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:
Green mung beans: 2/3 cup
Water: 5-6 cups (about 1280ml)
Chinese dried seaweed: 10 g (optional)
Coconut milk 椰奶: 1/3 cup
Yellow rock sugar: 2 average-sized pieces
[Note: The bean:water ratio is about 1:8.]




Directions:

1. Wash green mung beans and drain. 
2. Depending on the brand of the beans: To make our beans mushy in the end, you may need to soak mung beans in water for at least an hour. But the mung beans I buy turn mushy easily, and I do not soak them.
3. Dried seaweed: Soak seaweed in water for 20-30 minutes.
4. Add green mung beans and water into a pot. Cook over medium heat for 30 minutes.  
5. When the beans are mushy, turn heat to medium low and add yellow rock sugar (start with one or two pieces). Cook for 15 minutes.
6. The dessert soup can be served hot or cold. If you like it cold, just put the soup in the refrigerator after it is cooled down.

I also made the soup a lot when I was in Canada. It "moistened" me a bit in the dry, cold weather.

Mung Bean Soup with Seaweed