绿豆汤 Green Bean/Mung Bean Dessert

Just a little background, my parents-in-law are both Baba-Nyonya. My mom-in-law's style of cooking is very different. Something one cannot find in Singapore. Both my in laws are from Terengganu. Hence I believe her method of cooking Peranakan cuisine has incorporated some of flavours of Terengganu.

I am still trying to find time to learn to cook most of her dishes. Perhaps one day. Perhaps one day.

But there is one which is simple and easy to prepare. Green bean or Mung bean - well this can be easily found anywhere in Singapore and to many, it is very easy to cook. Is it really that easy?

But it is the way to cook it. And for me, I adopted my mom-in-law's way of cooking and introduced a little of my own. A slight difference does make a huge difference in taste.

A dessert that my family loves

Ingredients
1 cup of mung beans
1/2 cup of sago
270ml coconut milk (I use one can of Ayam brand Premium Coconut Milk)
5 cups of water
Honey rock sugar, to taste
Gula Melaka, to taste (I use those bought from Terengganu)
3 to 5 pieces of pandan leaves, tie them into a knot

Directions
1. Rinse the mung beans and pick out the bad beans.

2. Drain all water. Stir fry the mung beans in a pot till you can smell the fragrant of the mung beans and when the beans turns a little brown.

See how green the mung beans are

After frying for a while..it turns a little brown

3. Add in the water and the pandan leaves to the pot and bring it to a boil. 

Add in the pandan leave & water

4. Lower heat and allow it to simmer. Remove the pandan leaves.

While waiting for the mung beans to soften, time to cook the sago. You can always cook the sago before cooking the mung beans or cook them both at the same time. Recipe for cooking sago pearls.

5. Now back at the mung bean that is simmering. Once the mung bean has "broken", add in the coconut milk and honey rock sugar, to taste. Stir well.

6. Allow it cook for a few minutes till the honey rock sugar melts totally. Add the piece of gula melaka to the pot. Stir till it melts.

I use gula melaka from Terengganu

7. Add more honey rock sugar or gula melaka, to taste.

Here you have it. Give it a try at home. You will love this mung bean dessert.

Voila...rich in coconut but it doesn't overpower the taste of mung beans.

Green Bean Barley Dessert

With the heat and the haze, we need to cool the internal heat of our body.
Green bean and barley are known to have lots of benefits. And I am not going to bore you guys up with the lengthy goodness. So I will just go straight into the recipe.

Ingredients
1 cup green beans
1/2 cup of pearl barley
1/4 cup of sago
4 pandan leaves
8 strips of candied winter melons
2 pieces of honey rock sugar
2 to 2.5 litre of water
Directions
Wash the pandan leave thoroughly. There tends to be soil trapped between the leaves.
Once washed, tie the pandan leaves into a knot.
Place this pandan knot in the pot of water and start the heat at high,
Rinse the green beans and pearl barley. Add them into the pot of water
Bring it to a boil.
Rinse the sago in a small bowl. Add some hot water and leave it to soak for 5 minutes.
Drain and pour the sago into the pot.
Lower the heat.
Add the candied winter melons and honey rock sugar. Give it a few stirs.
If it isn't sweet enough for you, add more candied winter melons/honey rock sugar.
Let it simmer til your preference. *I like my green beans & barley fluffy just like in the photo.
Turn off the heat.
You can serve it hot or chill it and serve later.
Cheers!