Cooling Chinese Green Mung Bean Dessert Soup

As I have mentioned before, Singapore ( where I grew up) has 4 main races - Chinese, Malays, Indians and Eurasians. We are very familiar with the Chinese belief in food that cool your body (Yin) and food that heat your body (Yang).

These concepts are actually a part of our Singaporean culture and they are often used to explain our emotional or physical state.

Too much heat energy in your body and you'll end up feeling irritable, constipated and have rashes, nose bleed and symptoms of a cold or fever and sore throat. To counteract this you have to eat certain cooling foods like banana, yoghurt, cucumber and cooling soups among others

If you have too much cool energy, you will feel lethargic, weak, tired and restless. To combat this, you have to consume heaty food like dates, ginger, cinnamon, mangoes and blackberries among others.

Then there are neutral foods too like honey, apricot, carrot, celery, potatoes, papaya and beetroot among others. These foods are neither warm nor cool thus they are suitable for any type of body.

Green Mung Bean Dessert Soup is a cooling soup and helps in combating the heaty elements in your body. It also helps to lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol and clear acne. In ancient China, women drink loads of this soup ( with salt instead of sugar) to regulate their monthly period. It is very easy to prepare and you can either just drink the liquid or have both the liquid and the beans for extra potency and fibre.

Ingredients ( serves 4)

1.5 cups of whole green mung bean

1.5 litres water for cooking and some for soaking the beans overnight.

Sugar per preference

Method

Wash and soak the beans overnight.

The next day, rinse off the soaking water and add the required fresh water.

Boil for 30 mins on medium fire. If the soup thickens, add more water. It is supposed to be a thin soup.

Remove from stove, add sugar per preference and scoop into bowls.

Serve warm.