Summer Salad with Mung Bean Jelly (凉粉, 청포묵무침)
Mizuna and garlic greens salad topped on mung bean jelly
Cook time: 15 minutes
Serves: 2 servings
Ingredients:
Mung Bean jelly:
1/4 cup of mung bean starch
1 and 3/4 cup of cold water
Salad greens:
One bunch of washed Mizuna, or spinach
2 stems of Garlic greens or scallions
Sauce:
1/3 cup of tamari
2 tsp of toasted sesame oil
1 tsp of rice vinegar
Optional: fresh, thinly sliced chili pepper, or chili paste
Cooking Tools:
Small saucepan
Directions :
Mix the water and mung bean starch together with a spoon till the starch completely dissolves in the water.
Heat the mixture over the stove on med/low. Keep stirring while the mixture heats up. This keeps the mixture liquidy and avoids hard clumps from forming. The liquid will slowly thicken.
Continue to cook and stir until the mixture bubbles a little, about 5 minutes. Continue to cook and stir for another minute or two and turn off the fire.
Let the mixture cool for 30 minutes before transferring into the fridge.
In the meantime, boil water and blanch/steam the vegetables. Separately in a small bowl mix the sauce ingredients together with a spoon.
When the mixture solidifies (in about 1-2 hours), cut into bite-sized cubes, top with blanched vegetables, then pour the sauce over. Enjoy!
Cooking Tip:
If you stop stirring the first time trying this recipe and clumps begin to form, remove the pot from heat (you can still save it!), and stir the clumps back into the mixture until the liquid is thick and smooth again.
Stay healthy with Annie:
Mung bean is one of those foods that we always eat during the hot summers in Taiwan. It’s a food with cooling properties, and is often served as a dessert, or savory like this dish. Perfect as a tasty cold salad, and helps dissipate the heat that builds up in us as the weather warms up!