China: Kelp Green Bean (Mung Bean) Porridge

An Yun Lu

Kelp Green Bean (Mung Bean) Porridge: China

When people think about Chinese food, General Tao Chicken and all the other salty dishes are always the first images that come to mind. Actually, dessert is also one of theimportant dishes in a southern-Chinese traditional event. The culture believes that sweetness can always bring happiness and good luck to people. Having a good dessert at the end of a ceremony can also express the host’s best wishes. On the other hand, preventing illness by eating healthy food is a very strong idea in the southern-china region. People trust that by eating certain kinds of food they can prevent diseases, such as tuberculosis, anaemia, heatstroke, etc. The kelp green bean porridge is one of the best beverages in the summer time since the mung bean and the kelp can reduce the heat in the body, therefore
,
people can be healthier during the hot and humid weather in the summer. Is this recipe considered a dessert? This kelp green bean porridge, except for its medical value, has another reason to be popular in China: its price. All the indigents can be found easily in the supermarket for an inexpensive price and people can keep these indigents for more than one year! That could be one of the reasons that everyone enjoys this every summer.

THE RECIPE

·         Ingredients

§  200 grams mung beans

§  1 tablespoon rice

§  50 grams kelp

§  2 litres water

§  Rock sugar to taste

·         Procedure

1.      Wash and let mung beans steep in water for 3 hours.

2.      Wash and drain rice.

3.      Wash and cut kelp
s
into shreds.

4.      Place mung beans and rice with 2 litres water in a large pot.

5.      Bring to a boil, and then lower to a strong simmer until mung beans cook and bloom

6.      Add kelp
s
to the pot. (Do not add rock sugar until mung beans are softening to the way that you like.)

7.      Add rock sugar to taste, stir well to dissolve and serve hot.

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