Learn about the Very Veggie Movement
Recipe by Isabelle Lin
With mung beans, there is little one cannot do. Considered a household staple in east and southeast Asia, the humble bean blossoms into beautiful form when turned into impressive and crowd-favorite mooncakes.
In this tea-flavored twist on the classic, it is essential to use shelled or split mung beans for a smooth, palate-pleasing texture. And, while you will need the help of a few special tools, like a mooncake mold, there are countless designs available for you to choose from. Let’s get started!
Ingredients
350g water
300g shelled mung beans
150g sugar
100g oil or butter
special tools: mooncake mold, kitchen scale, rice cooker, hand mixer, pastry brush
Directions
- Using scale, measure out 300g of mung beans. Place into a larger metal dish (but no wider than your rice cooker).
- In a separate heat-proof bowl, add tea bag and boiled water. Let brew for 3-5 minutes.
- Add the brewed tea to the mung beans and mix.
- Add 2 cups of water to your rice cooker. Place the bowl with mung beans inside. Set to cook.
- Next, measure out 150g of sugar and 100g of oil or butter.
- When mung beans have cooked, stir in. Use a hand mixer to blend ingredients, ensuring no mung bean grains are left visible. Resulting mixture should look like dough.
- In a pan or wok, lightly fry mung bean mixture to stiffen a bit for the next step, molding. Gently fold throughout until able to form a cohesive ball. Let cool a bit.
- Begin measuring mixture into 35g portions (you may adjust depending on mooncake mold size).
- With an additional 1 tbsp of oil, use pastry brush to oil the inside of your mooncake mold and prevent sticking.
- Place each portion into the mold and press down to shape.
- Chill in the fridge for 2 hours. Serve on your favorite plates and enjoy with a hot cup of tea!
A Message From the Chef
I almost never cook or bake in my daily life, so I think participating in this project was a really nice experience for me. The project also introduced me to video editing, which I find really interesting to do. Overall, it was a unique experience and allowed me to expose myself to the fun of baking and go more in-depth about the details of video editing; I learned to be more creative when making my video and think more outside-the-box.
– Isabelle Lin, Westmont High School in Campbell, California
