81: Mung Bean Drink

The weather this afternoon was really hot, the sun was blazing and shining crazily into the living room. I was getting a little tired while studying in the living room and decided to make myself a mung bean/green bean drink.

Mung beans are really good for you. The Chinese believe that mung beans help cleanse and detox and is good for your digestive system. It is low in fat and rich in protein and fibre which aids in the lowering of one’s blood cholesterol level. The high fibre in green bean yields complex carbohydrate which improves digestion and helps to stabilize the blood sugar level in our body.

For a cup of mung bean drink, simply boil an adequate amount of mung beans in an adequate amount of water until the beans are soft. For me, 2-3 cups of water (with all the evaporation when boiling) to make 1 cup of mung bean drink is sufficient. Add a little sugar if required. It’s best not to include any though. And if there’s pandan leaves at home, the drink will be definitely be more fragrant when you immerse the leaves in while boiling the beans.

I read somewhere that boiling the beans actually destroys the enzymes in the beans (and most of the nutrition) and it is better to drink the mung beans raw. What I read is that this person immersed the raw mung beans overnight and removed them the morning after. I’m not sure about this method of preparation since I’ve been eating my mung beans boiled and soft since young. Hmmmmm.