Pumpkin and mung bean sweet soup
Mung beans simmered until they burst, then cooked with diced pumpkin and slab sugar — cooling beans balanced by warming pumpkin, a gentle dessert soup for the solstice.
- 1 hr 10 min
- Serves 4
- Simmer
- Easy
Why it suits you: A Special (allergy-prone) constitution often finds that summer damp heat sets off itchy skin or eczema. Mung beans clear heat and toxins, while sweet, warm pumpkin supports the middle and offsets the beans' coldness. Both are low-allergen ingredients, making this a reassuring dessert that eases the summer heat.
Method
Prep 10 min · Cook 60 min- 1Rinse and soak the mung beans for 1 hour. Soften the tangerine peel and scrape off the pith; peel, deseed and dice the pumpkin.
- 2Bring the water to the boil, add the beans and peel, boil hard for 10 minutes, then simmer for 30 minutes until the beans burst.
- 3Add the pumpkin and simmer for 15 minutes until soft, then stir in the sugar until dissolved. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Cautions
- Mung beans are cold: eat less if your digestion runs cold or you have diarrhoea. If you take herbal medicine, ask your practitioner, as mung beans may weaken it.
Chef's tips
- Freeze the soaked beans overnight and they will burst much faster.
The TCM view
Mung beans are sweet and cold, clearing heat, resolving toxins, relieving summer heat and draining water. Pumpkin is sweet and warm, supporting the middle and boosting qi; tangerine peel regulates qi and protects the spleen from the cold, and slab sugar harmonises the middle. Balancing cold and warm, it clears heat without weakening digestion — suited to a Special constitution prone to summer skin flare-ups.
