Green Bean Soup

For Chinese New Year's, I celebrated with hot pot and traditional green bean soup. "Soup" is a bit of a misnomer, since it's actually a sweet, dessert dish. The color of the soup may also surprise you, since it's more yellow than green (depends on type of bean used). This is a delicious soup that satisfies whether served hot or chilled.

When I asked my mom for the "recipe," what I got was basically this:

1. Boil the mung bean and tapioca separately, then combine in a large pot.
2. Add sugar (brown, white, or cane- it's really all up to you) to taste.

Below is the process I used and pictures of the ingredients I used. The mung bean and tapioca is easily obtained at any Asian store (such as Ranch 99). Be warned- as with many Chinese recipes, there are no hard and fast rules. The recipe is based on what worked for me. The measurements for amount of water, sugar, dried mung bean and tapioca are all estimates. Watch the tapioca while cooking it! I burnt it the first time, because I wasn't paying attention to the pot and it was cooking on high heat. Cleaning that mess was a pain!

Peeled Split Mung Bean

Mini Tapioca Pearls

Sugar

Green Bean Soup
(serves 12)

7 ounces of dried peeled split mung bean (about half the bag)
1 1/2 sticks brown sugar cane (all I had on hand)
White sugar, to taste

3/4 cup tapioca

Directions:

1. Rinse and drain mung bean in cold water several times. Place mung bean in a large 5 quart pot with about 16 cups water. Cover and cook at medium heat until boiling. Decrease heat, and continue simmering for 15 additional minutes. Periodically, remove bubble residue at surface of soup. Add brown sugar cane. Remove from heat. 
2. Place tapioca and enough water to cover tapioca in small saucepan. Cook on low heat while stirring periodically to prevent burning. When tapioca is no longer opaque, remove from heat. Add the cooked tapioca pearls to green bean soup. 
3. Add white sugar to taste.