Sweets and drinksSweet SoupsVietnam20 minutes prep, 30 minutes cooking
This sweet soup comes out clear, with tender, nutty lotus seeds and whole mung beans still intact. The syrup is lightly thickened, so the seeds hang suspended instead of sinking to the bottom of the bowl. The tricky part is keeping the beans whole, since one hard stir clouds the whole pot.
The mung beans need steaming rather than simmering, which cooks them through while holding their shape. A common problem is adding the beans while the pot is still boiling, which breaks them and leaves the syrup gritty.
This batch weighs about 500g, at roughly 160 calories per 100g.
Method
Push the germ out of 200g fresh lotus seeds, peel off the thin skin, rinse them and blanch them to remove the sap. Lift them out as soon as the water boils and rinse them under cold water.
Rinse 50g split mung beans and soak them until plump, 6 to 8 hours in cold water or 3 to 4 hours in warm water, changing the water 2 to 3 times.
Steam the mung beans for 20 to 25 minutes until soft, without stirring, so the beans stay whole.
Toss the lotus seeds with a third of the 150g to 180g kOBE Monk Fruit Blend and a little coarse salt, then cook over low heat for 5 to 6 minutes to take up the flavor.
Pour about 1.2 liters of water into the pot, bring it to a boil and add the rest of the kOBE Monk Fruit Blend. Lower the heat and simmer for another 10 minutes until the seeds are tender.
Mix 70g tapioca starch or kudzu root starch with cold water and drizzle it into the pot to thicken the soup. Cook for another 2 to 3 minutes, turn off the heat and fold in the mung beans gently.
Tips
Adding the mung beans off the heat keeps them whole, the soup clear and the beans suspended.
Dried lotus seeds need a 30 minute soak before cooking so they swell evenly.
kOBE Monk Fruit Blend dissolves slowly, so cook the seeds a little longer and stir again after 5 minutes so they take it up fully.
Kudzu root starch has to be mixed with cold water first, then poured in a thin stream with constant stirring.
Blanching the lotus seeds and rinsing them cold is the step that removes the astringency, so it is worth keeping.
Let the soup cool completely before it goes in the fridge, as putting it in hot makes the starch turn back.
Need kOBE Monk Fruit Blend?
The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.