Lü Dou Tang (绿豆汤 (lǜ dòu tāng))

Overview

Lü dou tang, mung bean soup, is one of the most common sweet soups in Chinese homes. Whole green mung beans are rinsed and simmered in water until soft, and the soup is sweetened only with sugar: rock sugar, white sugar or brown sugar, each giving a slightly different taste. When the beans stay whole and separate it is called lü dou tang; when they are cooked longer until they collapse into a sandy texture it is lü dou sha. It can be eaten hot or cold, and in summer it is often chilled and drunk as much as it is eaten. In southern China, strips of kelp are often cooked with the beans, and some people add a little milk.

History

Mung bean soup is a dessert across the Chinese-speaking world, from northern China to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. It is above all a summer soup, cooked in big pots on hot days and kept cold. In Taiwan, mung bean soup in summer and red bean soup in winter are the typical sweet soups of the two seasons. With rice added it becomes a mung bean congee.

Main ingredients

Mung beans, rock sugar, water. The soup is built on sweet mung bean summer soup and is usually served hot. Diet: vegan; usually gluten-free.

Explore: Bean soups · More soups from China

Recipe

4Serves

1h 5m5 prep · 60 cook

~190kcal / serving

EasyDifficulty

Method

1. 1

   Put the beans in a pot with the water and bring to the boil.

2. 2
   40 min

   Simmer for 30 to 40 minutes until the beans are soft, adding the kelp if using.

3. 3

   For lü dou sha, keep cooking until the beans break down.

4. 4

   Stir in the rock sugar until it dissolves.

5. 5

   Serve warm, or chill and serve cold.

6. ✓

   Serve. About 1h 5m from start to bowl.

In short: Lü Dou Tang is a bean, pea or lentil soup from China, in East Asia, made mainly with mung beans, rock sugar and water. It is vegan and is served hot or cold.

Sources

• %E7%BB%BF%E8%B1%86%E6%B1%A4 (Wikipedia)
• Tong sui (Wikipedia)
• Mung bean (Wikipedia)

Description, history and recipe written by SoupWiki and checked against the sources above. Calories and times are rough estimates.