Green Bean (Mung Bean) - For Cooling & Detox

Green bean 绿豆(also known as Mung Bean), is an excellent source for detox and relieving summer heat). It is a very popular dessert in Chinese families, and is extremely simple to make.

Green bean is known to be cooling, so may not be suitable for people who have a cool body (those who have cold hands and feet), people having diarrhea, women who are having their menses (or going to have their menses). There's several ways of cooking green bean dessert. 2 popular ways are green bean soup and green bean water. Both have different benefits and should not be confused with one another, though both uses the same ingredients and cooking method.

Pre-cook Preparation
Soak green bean in water over night (or at least 2 hours)

Ingredients
pandan leaves (optional. I'll usually add in pandan leaves for the fragrance)
green bean
water
brown sugar/rock sugar (optional)

Cooling Purpose 降火气 - Green Bean Water 绿豆水
The skin of green bean helps to reduce heatiness. Hence, if your purpose is to cool or reduce heatiness, do not cook the green bean soup for too long. Add the beans to boiling water and boil in small/medium fire for about 10 minutes (don't cook for too long). Alternatively, just add boiling water to green beans, and let is simmer for around 15 mins. Add in some brown sugar or rock sugar (冰糖) if you need more flavour.The beans will look pretty hard and inedible. The water will look clear and greenish. Discard the beans and drink the water.

Detox Purpose 解毒 - Green Bean Soup 绿豆汤
The inner part of green bean helps with detox, hence, for detox purposes, you will need to cook till it's tender (煮烂), where you will basically see the beans "breaking up", and see the white inner parts of the bean. You will need to boil the soup longer (around 30 mins or more). The soup will look cloudy and slightly reddish. Green bean soup is good for detox, but not so ideal if your purpose is for cooling.

Recipes: Luo Han Guo Chinese Herbal Tea (罗汉果凉茶)

Luo Han Guo has a very chim scientific name: Siraitia grosvenorii. This is a herbal tea that my hubby loves and will always buy when we passed by the herbal store so I decide to learn to cook it. Am pleasantly surprised that it's so easy to cook this herbal tea! This is one of the standard chinese herbal tea for cooling the body and to heal cough/sorethroat.

Luo Han Guo is cheap and can be found in supermarkets or chinese medicine hall.3 pieces cost around S$1.20 to S$1.50. I prefer to buy mine in chinese medicine hall where you get to choose. NTUC usually only sell pre-packed ones.

How to Choose Luo Han Guo (罗汉果):

• Colour: should not be too dark
• Shake: give the fruit a light shake when choosing. if you can hear/feel the seed within moving, the seed is dried (not fresh), and will not give much taste/benefits

What you need:

• Luo Han Guo (罗汉果). 
• Pot (Try to use clay/ceramic if possible. It is better for cooking herbal tea/soup as there may be chemical reaction with metal/stainless steel pot)
• Water
• Chrysanthemum (optional)
• Wolf-berries (optional)

For me, I prefer to add chrysanthemum & wolf berries into my herbal tea. These are optional. Traditional luo han guo tea consists of luo han guo and water only. Luo Han Guo has natural sweetness so sugar is usually not required. but if you do have a sweet tooth, you may put in a few pieces of rock sugar.

Wash the Luo Han Guo fruits, Chrysanthem and wolfberries. I usually use a medium-sized pot, and I found that the taste for 1 Luo Han Guo is quite bland, so I usually use 2, and if necessary, add another 1. It's entirely based on personal taste. My family loves the thick herbal taste of Luo Han Guo so my tea is usually quite thick in flavor.

Fill the pot with about 3/4 full of water, crushed the luo han guo and put them into the pot. close the lid and wait for the mixture to boil

Let the mixture boil a while. and open the lid to taste. This is the time when you decide if you need to add another fruit, or sugar

For me, I'll usually add Chrysanthem and wolfberries at this stage

done!

Benefits

• Luo Han Guo is good for cough and sorethroat
• It is considered a "cooling" fruit, so this is a good cooling herbal tea when you're feeling heaty, or have eaten too much unhealthy fried junk or have too too many late nights
• chrysanthemum is also known to be cooling, rich in Vitamin B & C, and good for detoxification of the liver
• wolfberries are good for eyesight and is is one of the most antioxidant-rich fruits around.