Mung Bean Porridge or Soup - Completed Dish

Mung Bean Porridge or Soup (Instant Pot) (电压锅绿豆汤/粥 Dian Ya Guo Lu Dou Tang/Zhou)

 Preparation: 5 minutes | Cook: 45 minutes  3 ingredients  porridge
June 18, 2022 Jump to Recipe Print

The weather in Texas has been terribly hot lately. I have been getting heat warnings pretty much every day for the past week. Even when I only stayed outside for 10 minutes to water my garden, I felt like I was being roasted by the searing sun. The high humidity also makes things worse.

So today’s recipe, Instant Pot Mung Bean Soup/Porridge, is another one that helps me beat the heat—much like the other recipes have been posting recently, like Soft Tofu Green Onion Salad and Simple Bell Pepper Salad.

Mung beans are widely used in Asian cuisine. They can be made into porridge, soups, curries, salads, desserts, etc. In Chinese culture, mung beans are said to clear away heat and detox the body. I previously shared some recipes using mung bean sprouts, like Mung Bean Sprout Salad and Stirfry Mung Bean Sprouts. Where I grew up, mung bean soup and porridge are must-haves in the summer. To make things easier, my grandparents would sometimes put some cleaned mung beans in an old-school thermos and fill the thermos with boiling water. The next day, the the mung bean soup would be ready to drink!

Nowadays, with an Instant Pot, making mung bean soup and porridge is much faster. I just need to add some mung beans and water to my Instant Pot and forget about it. The results will vary depending on the mineral content of your tap water. The mung bean soup made with harder water (i.e. more mineral content) tends to be less green and more reddish. Also, the longer the cooking time, the darker the resulting color. The taste will remain the same.

I like drinking the mung bean soup as a summer drink. But I do save the solids for desserts, which I will cover in a future post. You can mix the liquid with solids and eat it as porridge. I usually add some rock sugar if preparing mung bean soup for my kids. They absolutely love it!

Another word of caution. I was always told by my grandparents not to go overboard with drinking mung bean soup and porridge. One or two bowls at a time is fine, but drinking too much may cause some people GI symptoms.

Tool: Instant Pot

Gluten Free, Vegan, Low Carb

Preparation Time:  5 minutes

Total Time:  50 minutes

Servings: 8 to 10 people

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup mung beans 1
  • ~2.5 quarts (10 cups) water 2
  • rock sugar (optional)
Mung Bean Porridge or Soup - Preparation

Preparation:

  1. Thoroughly rinse the mung beans several times to remove any surface dirt. Add the mung beans to an instant pot. Pour in the 10 cups of water. The water level should be slightly below the 1/2 mark for a 6 quart Instant Pot (if you are too lazy to measure, you can fill the water to the 1/2 mark). As a safety precaution, the water should never exceed the 1/2 mark level for any Instant Pot (Always follow the directions of your Instant Pot!).
Mung Bean Porridge or Soup - Preparation
Mung Bean Porridge or Soup - Preparation
Mung Bean Porridge or Soup - Preparation
  1. Close and lock the instant pot lid. Make sure the steam valve points towards “sealing,” and not “venting.” Press the “Porridge” button on the Instant Pot and set the timer to 30 minutes.
Mung Bean Porridge or Soup - Preparation
Mung Bean Porridge or Soup - Preparation
  1. When the Instant Pot is done cooking the mung beans, it will switch to the “Keep Warm” mode automatically. You can use a utensil to manually switch the valve to the “Venting” position to let out the steam. Although for this recipe, there may be some liquid escaping along with the steam during venting. (WARNING: Never use your hand to turn the valve as the steam will be hot. ALWAYS follow all safety instructions that come with your particular Instant Pot.) Optionally: if you are not pressed for time, wait 15-20 minutes until the Instant Pot naturally releases pressure. No matter the method, be sure to wait until the little floater next to the valve drops down before opening the lid.
  1. Mung bean soup: Use a strainer to filter out the liquid from the solids. Pour some of the mung bean soup into a bowl or cup. Add one or two rock sugar pieces (optional) for a sweeter taste. Drink either warm or chilled.
Mung Bean Porridge or Soup - Completed Dish
  1. Mung bean porridge: mix the liquid with the mung bean solids and pour the mixture into a bowl. Add one or two rock sugar pieces (optional) for a sweeter taste. Drink the porridge either warm or chilled.
Mung Bean Porridge or Soup - Completed Dish

Bon Appétit

Notes:

  1. You can find mung beans in an Asian grocery store. They are usually sold in sealed bags. Many western chain grocery stores also carry mung beans.
  1. The ratio for mung beans to water should be close to 1:10. Depending on the tap water in your area, you might get a different-colored soup than what’s depicted. Hard water tends to result in more reddish-colored mung bean soup, whereas soft water tends to result green-colored mung bean soup. Also, the longer the mung beans are cooked in water, the more reddish the color will be. This is due to the polyphenolics in mung beans being oxidized, which causes the color to turn from green to red. The color does not affect taste at all. But it is said that the oxidized polyphenolics have fewer beneficial effects. The water I have here in Texas is quite hard (more calcium and magnesium), so the color of my mung bean soup is more reddish. But I’ve also tried using distilled water to make the soup, and the color is definitely more green.

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