绿豆爽 (Split Mung Bean Sweet Soup)

Split mung beans, not mung beans. That’s what you’ll need to find to be able to make this dish.

Split mung bean soup is a Chinese dessert and sweet soup that many of us have grown up and are already very familiar with. It is a very thick and dense soup, unlike most other Chinese soup, and is a favourite among those with a sweet tooth. In Singapore, we love to eat this dessert with Chinese crullers (you tiao) because the soup can be absorbed very well by the crullers. This is the best part about eating a bowl of split mung bean sweet soup because you can actually finish an entire bowl without the need to use a spoon… though this means, of course, that you’ll need to make sure that you order enough of the crullers to last the whole bowl!

Ingredients:

  • Mung bean: 400g
  • Pandan leaves: 2 knots of 5 leaves each
  • Sugar: 250g
  • Water: 2 liters
  • Sweet potato starch: 75g + 300ml water
  • Chinese crullers (油条): 3 pairs, sliced for serving

Method:

  1. Steam mung beans with 1 knot of pandan leaves for 20min. Remove pandan leaves and set aside.
  2. In a pot, stir sugar till melted. Continue stirring till it turns brownish and starts to caramelise.
  3. Slowly add water, followed by 1 knot of pandan leaves and the steamed mung beans.
  4. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15min.
  5. Separately mix 300ml water with sweet potato starch.
  6. Gradually add starch mixture to mung bean pot, stirring continuously. Stop adding once you get the desired consistency.
  7. Serve hot with Chinese crullers.

Tricks:

  • Caramelising the sugar first instead of simply melting the sugar in the water will allow the soup to obtain a delicious caramelising flavour as well as a nice brownish tinge.

  • Serve immediately after cooking. Otherwise, the soup will turn watery and dense very quickly and lose its overall appeal as a sweet dessert.

Serving:
10 persons (in dessert portions)

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