just a mung us
Recipe: chinese sweet mung bean popsicles
When I posted last week about Chinese sweet red bean (adzuki) soup I got a few comments from people about mung bean soup. Mung beans are green and slightly smaller than adzuki beans. They are another favorite of mine, although if red beans and green beans went head to head, red beans would win 9 times out of 10 for me.
pictures always help, because the word “beans” is a little vague
beautiful little green beans
So yes, you can make a sweet mung bean soup just like you make the sweet adzuki bean soup although you don’t need to soak these beans since they’re smaller. You want an 8:1 ratio of water to beans. Bring to boil, reduce to a simmer, and simmer simmer simmer until the beans are soft (about 90 minutes for me).
add plenty of water
the beans are practically falling apart
The part that makes the soup sweet is when you add sugar. Add as little or as much as you like. Stir it in while the soup is still hot. When the soup cools down, I like to purรฉe it all in the blender. You can purรฉe half of it and leave the other half bean-y or you can opt not to blender any of it. I’ve done them all, they’re all great.
stir in the sugar
yeah, still no immersion blender…
So here we are at the fun part… making popsicles. When I was little, my mom would make sweet adzuki or mung bean soup (sometimes both – life was exciting back in the day!) in summer and then freeze them in our 1970s era popsicle molds. 1970s because I am a child of the 70s. Huge treat. HUGE. Back then, you couldn’t find these popsicles commercially in southern Virginia. To be honest, I don’t know if you can today. But I know that they carry them in most Asian markets today. What I like about making them at home is how I can make little ones in vodka shots.
fill the shots with the cooled sweet soups
when they are half frozen, stick ’em with the popsicle stick
I wasn’t sure how well they would release, but found that Bron had some helpful tips and my pops came out without a fuss. Perfect summertime treat for averting a meltdown and the beans are good for you!
you want the red or the green?
Chinese Mung Bean and Red (Adzuki) Bean Popsicles
[print recipe]
1 cup mung beans, dried
8 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
Give the beans a rinse and place in a 3-4 quart saucepan with 8 cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and partially cover the saucepan. Let simmer for 1.5 hours or until the beans are soft. Remove from heat and stir in the sugar (adjust to your liking). When the soup is cooled, place half or all of the soup in a blender (depending on if you want whole beans or not) and purรฉe until smooth. You can enjoy the soup warm or cold (add tapioca pearls like we did for the red bean soup). OR you can freeze the soup (without tapioca pearls – I think that might be hard to eat frozen) in shot glasses or popsicle molds. For shot glasses, fill the vessel nearly full and freeze for about 20 minutes. You want to insert popsicle sticks when the soup is partially frozen (it will take longer than 20 minutes if your glass is larger – that heat capacity thing, you know) so the stick will remain where you put it and not sink to the bottom. Let the popsicle freeze completely. To remove, just let the glass warm up in your hand or run under warm water until you can release the popsicle from the glass. Makes a lot of little shot glass popsicles (like at least 2 dozen vodka shots).
July 22nd, 2010 at 9:48 pm
Too cool!! They look lovely!
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:12 pm
I never knew you could make popsicles out of Moong bean?? we use it in many savory recipes. We do use the split bean in a sweet halwa type dish
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:22 pm
You have answered a question I had from my Hong Kong grocery story experiences. Bean packages labelled “red beans” or “green beans” were a bit vague. But now I know that red = adzuki and green = mung. Thanks. :-) I was still eating them but didn’t know what they were.
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:55 pm
Hi
The cantonese way of eating these green bean soup – you can add some dried orange peel and sea kelp and some sago to the soup. Taste really good. For red bean..same except no sea kelp.
Enjoy = )
Chris
July 22nd, 2010 at 11:15 pm
I think I just found use to my moong beans.
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:20 am
For some reason when I started reading the post I confused beans and peas… and I considered for a second making popsicles out of pea soup (the good kind, with lard and all the other good bits). The more I think about it, the more it could actually work.
July 23rd, 2010 at 5:15 am
I was just thinking about how to get more mileage out of my dollar-store popsicle mould! These are so great. I love how beans are used for sweet dishes in Chinese cuisine.
July 23rd, 2010 at 5:42 am
Yum, will definitely try those as I’m in popsicle mode at the moment, using both Zoku and traditional moulds, shot glasses and sticks.
I made some fresh cherry and creme fraiche pops the other night and couldn’t be bothered to wait until they were semi-frozen so I wrapped a bit of foil over each top and stuck the stick through it – perfect to keep it in place.
July 23rd, 2010 at 9:24 am
My mom made mung bean soup once, and then I did this with a popsicle mold: layered brown sugar, mung bean soup, milk, more brown sugar. Twas delicious.
Wei-Wei
July 23rd, 2010 at 10:18 am
I just made red bean soup and some popciles two days ago. We had shaved ice and put the soup into it. It was great for the hot summer days. Since I cooked two bags of the red beans (to save energy), I had to freeze some of them. It was too too much. However, now we can sit back and enjoy it any time we wish. Highly recommend to anyone that wants to have some cool and cold snacks in the summer.
July 23rd, 2010 at 10:24 am
Thanks for the idea. I have a lot of that in my pantry right now. It would be perfect for my daughter.
July 23rd, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Delicious! I’d go for the red. I find the flavor better tasting than mung beans.
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:01 pm
Bring back memory….I make hot bean soup for dessert all the time but never thought of turning them into popsicle… Thanks Jenn
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:34 pm
Wow. Such a beautiful and informative blog you have. I love it.
July 23rd, 2010 at 4:14 pm
Love love love it!! I’ve been meaning to make the ice cream version of the adzuki beans. Tho’ popsicles work just as well! Thank you for sharing this.
July 23rd, 2010 at 5:46 pm
Not sure if I could serve this to my conservatively-paletted friends, but I would love to try. Thanks!
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:19 pm
Ooh, another hit for my summer obsession–popsicles! Thanks for sharing this.
July 24th, 2010 at 5:41 am
Those shot-glass popsicles look so cute! I think we’re due for a cool down this weekend, so I hope you can get out and enjoy it!
July 24th, 2010 at 10:25 am
is it okay to frequently have the glasses frozen in the freezer?
July 24th, 2010 at 8:11 pm
This is *so* appropriate: I was re-arranging the pantry and kept wondering what to do with the package of mung beans I randomly picked up at the store last month.
August 1st, 2010 at 1:40 pm
Hi Jen – haven’t commented in a while but I’ve been reading all of your posts. Had to comment here because my (non-chinese) boyfriend has fallen in love with asian dessert soups … taro w/ tapioca, red bean, mung bean…he jumped up and down a little with excitement to see me browsing your red bean soup recipe and this post! I will definitely have to get some popsicle molds and try this.
Have you thought about making the popsicles creamier like they sell em in the asian market? I’m not sure whether to add milk, cream, or something else.
August 2nd, 2010 at 10:46 am
Sarah – yeah, those Chinese (or Asian) labels are so cryptic!
Andrea – that’s a great suggestion, thanks :)
eula – I prefer the red beans to the green beans too, but they’re all good in my book.
diana – yes, it shouldn’t be a problem as long as you don’t shock the glass (hot/cold)
Helen – you and me both ;)
PetiteAsianGirl – I’ve made red bean ice cream before, but since I am lactose intolerant, I prefer my pops to be non-dairy. You could most certainly make the ice cream and turn them into pops, I’m sure.
July 14th, 2011 at 12:28 pm
I just tried making these yesterday- they were delicious!!! thanks so much!
July 27th, 2011 at 8:30 am
My mum also makes green/red bean soup once a fortnight or so. We always enjoyed them warm, and if there were any leftovers, we’d still heat them up after that again. great idea to hae them COLD, and i love these popsicles (:
August 20th, 2011 at 5:34 pm
[…] reminded me of the sweet green and red bean popsicles my mom made me as a […]
May 2nd, 2014 at 3:20 am
These look beautiful. My husband is not a huge fan of bean desserts as they are sold so often here in China, but I love them. I shall perhaps, somewhat selfishly, make myself four popsicles as a *somewhat healthy dessert in the near future;)