Happy Cooking 4: Green Bean Soup

It is one of those days where the weather is good for an afternoon nap and Mr. Robotic is not spared either.

Feeling heaty down his metalic throat pipe, Mr. Robotic decides to cook a simple Green Bean Soup to cool down and detoxicate. Green bean also known as Mung bean packs quite alot of nutritional value in the little bean. It contains iron, calcium, magnesium, vitamin A, B etc.

Green Bean Soup
Mr. Robotic completed this dessert based on Mdm. Agaration 's instructions. For this who need the recipe, here is an adaption from Healthy Chinese Recipes.

Ingredients (Serves 6):
- 300g green beans
- 1.5 litre water
- 6 pandan leaves
- 75 to 100g rock sugar (more if you have a sweet tooth)

Directions:
1. Wash the green beans in running water. Remove dirt and discolored beans.
2. Place beans and water in a large pot (cover with lid).
3. Bring water to boil then reduce heat to low.
4. Wash pandan leaves, cut off dead edges and tie into a bundle.
5. Place pandan leaves & rock sugar into the boiling water.
6. Simmer for 60-80 minutes until the beans have expanded out of their skins and are soft & fluffy.
Directions:
1. Wash the green beans in running water. Remove dirt and discolored beans.
2. Place beans and water in a large pot (cover with lid).
3. Bring water to boil then reduce heat to low.
4. Wash pandan leaves, cut off dead edges and tie into a bundle.
5. Place pandan leaves & rock sugar into the boiling water.
6. Simmer for 60-80 minutes until the beans have expanded out of their skins and are soft & fluffy.

Experience:
Simple yet delicious dessert for a lazy weekend afternoon. You can also throw in different ingredients (e.g. pearl barley, sago, small sweet potato bits, orange peel) to give a twist to this traditional dessert.

Happy Post 3: Sweet Papaya White Fungus Dessert

Coughing? Need some natural beauty enhancing food?

Mr. Robotic learns that the answer to the preceding questions lies in the very affordable white fungus. White fungus nourishes the lungs, helps to treat dry coughs, combats cholesterol levels and even a natural source of collagen. This makes it an ideal accompanying ingredient in soups and desserts. Try the recipe below! :)

Sweet Papaya White Fungus Dessert
Learned of this recipe from Chrystal.

Ingredients (Serves 6 to 7):
- 20g white fungus
- 1 ripe papaya (depending on the size of the papaya. Mr. Robotic only used 3/4 of the papaya)
- 2 tbsp Chinese almonds
- 6 to 8 red dates
- 50g rock sugar (add more if you like it sweeter)
- 1 litre water


Directions:
1. Soak the white fungus and red dates in cold water.
2. Put the sugar, red dates and the almonds in the pot (ideally to use a crockpot).
3. Peel the papaya, unseed the fruit and cut it into even pieces. Add to the pot.
4. Cut the stem of the white fungus.
5. Rinse the white fungus and red dates and add to the pot.
6. Add the water in the pot and put the pot in a large pan with cold water.
7. Bring the water to boil and let it simmer for an hour.

Note:
Mr. Robotic would be sharing the little tips he had learned on peeling the papaya in another post soon with pictures.

Experience:
With the previous not so successful experimental with fruits in cooking, Mr. Robotic was extra careful in using papaya in making this dessert. After having the papaya noodle soup, Mr. Robotic knows that he has to try papaya in cooking. While there are several preparation steps, Mr. Robotic likes this recipe as the actual cooking is very minimal.

Taste wise, it is something very familiar and nothing way out of the ordinary so much so that you would reject the taste as the ingredients used are commonly found in other Chinese desserts like Sweet Potato dessert etc. The difference lies in the main ingredient - papaya. The papaya's smooth and soft texture is very easy on the teeth.

Mr. Robotic is going to hunt for more white fungus recipes!!!