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Green Beans with Mochi Balls

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This is very typical Asian sweet, it can be served as dessert or as snack. It is soupy and contain mainly green beans, barley and little balls of glutinous flour know as mochi.

This is one of the food that I love and amazes me that my husband enjoys it… very much…I say that because this is so “Asian”…even many Asian people do not care for it, let alone people that was never exposed to it…

I must admit that the concept of sweet bean soup with mochi. Mochi? Yes, this gooey sticky little balls floating in a not so appealing murky, brownish, greenish color soup…and served iced, cold or warm? Yes, it might be troublesome for some people to accept hehehe! That is why I was so surprised that my husband embraced this dessert/snack so fast and often asks me to make it.

I have been cooking this for a while and it is perfect at any season of the year…I serve it cold/iced during summer and warm during winter. I often have the little mochi balls in the freezer…so when need I boiled them for a few minutes and it is ready to go.

In this particular recipe I added barley and use coconut sugar to sweeten the green bean soup, but you are free to use whatever kind of grains and sugar.

Ingredients:

1 ½ cup dry green beans (mung beans)
1/3 cup barley
Coconut sugar to taste

Fresh made or frozen mochi balls.

Method:

Wash the green beans and soak in water overnight. Do the same with the barley.

Place the bean and the barley in a thermo cooker and follow the instruction, making sure that the beans are fully cooked and soft. In case you do not have a thermo cooker please do the following:

In a big pot add the green bean and barley with water, about 1 ½ in above the bean. Cook until the beans have soften.

Add more water and coconut sugar to your taste. You can adjust the thickness of the soup according to your taste.

Cook the mochi balls accordingly, drain and put in the bean soup, or if you want to serve them cold, rinse the mocha balls with cold water and then add to the bean soup.

I hope you are dare enough to try this simple recipe for Green Bean Soup with Mochi…and hey, you might find out that you like this.

If you enjoy this recipe using glutinous flour you might want to try this Asian inspired Brazilian snack, Mochi Cheese Balls.

Did you know that the bean sprouts that you often see in Asian groceries are germinated from mung beans? Moreover, the starch extracted from these beans is used to make the bean thread or glass noodles, which are popular in Asian cuisine

Thank you for stopping by Color Your Recipes…have a colorful day!



Watermelon Granita

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This is a dessert that I made for our 4th of July celebration. I did not feel like baking; therefore came up with watermelon granita, which was perfect since I had watermelon sitting on the counter asking to be eaten…not to mention that this a perfect light and refreshing dessert for a hot summer day.

Granita is just a frozen dessert very similar to sorbet, which is based mainly of water, sugar and flavors. The mix is placed in the freezer and scraped, so ice crystals are formed. There are many versions of watermelon granite throughout the internet, but basically the ingredients are watermelon, sugar, lemon/lime. It is very versatile since you can adjust to your liking in regards to sweetness, tartness and so on. Not to mention that granita is a good alternative for people that want a low fat kind of ice dessert.

This is a very simple recipe, a little laborious since you have to keep going back and forward to the freezer to scrape the ice.  Although you could leave it longer, but then you will need a lot of muscle to scrape, because the block of watermelon ice will be rock hard. In spite of the work it is well worth it, the watermelon granita is very refreshing and you can prepare it in advance. As a matter of fact after the party, we had some leftover. I stored the granite in an air tight container and kept in the freezer for almost a week and it is still perfectly delicious and fresh until the last serving.

Ingredients:

8 cups of watermelon cut into big chunks (this was approximately ½ of my watermelon)
1/3 cup sugar
juice from 2 limes, approximately 5 tablespoons
fresh mint leaves for garnish

Method:

In a blender place approximately half of the watermelon, half of the sugar and half lime juice. Puree until well blended and place the puree watermelon blend in a 13 x 9 in pyrex. Repeat the process with the other half of watermelon, sugar and lime juice. Pour the blend again in the pyrex and mix gently.
Cover the pyrex with aluminum foil and place in the freezer for approximately 2 hours.

Remove the pyrex from the freezer and scrape the top layer of ice with a spoon or fork to lose the ice. I notice that the ice on the side of the dish was harder than the middle. Cover the dish and place the tray back in the freezer.
Repeat the process for 2 or 3 times until all the ice is scraped.

Before serving, I lose the ice crystal with a fork and spoon into a serving glass.
Garnish with the fresh mint leaves and serve.

 

Did you know that granita is believed to be originally from Sicily, Italy? Interestingly granite is served with a brioche as a breakfast during summer.

Thank you for stopping by Simple Recipes and have a great week!