Kelp & mung bean sweet soup
A classic Cantonese sweet soup — mung beans cooked to a cream with kelp and tangerine peel, lightly sweet and clearing.
- 1 hr
- Serves 3
- Simmer
- Easy
Why it suits you: Damp-Heat shows up as an oily face, a bitter taste and breakouts, and Qingming's warm, humid weather lets damp-heat build up. Mung beans clear heat and drain water, kelp drains damp and resolves phlegm, and tangerine peel protects the stomach — lightly sweet and drunk warm, it clears without harming digestion.
Method
Prep 10 min · Cook 50 min- 1Rinse the mung beans and soak for 1 hour. Soak the kelp for 20 minutes, rinse off any grit and cut into thin strips or small squares.
- 2Soak the tangerine peel until soft and scrape off the pith.
- 3Bring the mung beans, tangerine peel and water to the boil, then simmer over medium-low heat for 30 minutes until the beans burst and turn creamy.
- 4Add the kelp and simmer for 15 minutes more, then stir in the slab sugar until dissolved.
- 5Drink it warm, never iced — pour it into a flask for the office if you like.
Cautions
- Kelp is high in iodine — check with your doctor if you have a thyroid condition.
- Mung beans and kelp are cold; go easy if your digestion runs cold, during your period or with loose stools.
Chef's tips
- Don't cook mung beans in an iron pot — they turn dark. Use a stainless steel or clay pot.
The TCM view
Mung beans are sweet and cold, clearing heat and toxins and draining water; kelp is salty and cold, resolving phlegm and draining water; aged tangerine peel is pungent, bitter and warm, moving qi and drying damp to temper the cold. Mostly sweet and cold with a touch of warmth — clearing damp-heat without upsetting the stomach.
