绿豆糕綠豆糕
lǜ dòu gāo luk6 dau2 gou1
Pale-green, melt-in-the-mouth mung-bean cakes appear on Dragon Boat tables across the lower Yangtze, where their "cooling" mung bean is meant to balance the heat of high summer as the festival arrives.
The story behind it
In Chinese food custom, mung bean is considered a cooling ingredient, so eating 绿豆糕 around the fifth day of the fifth lunar month — the hottest, "most poisonous" stretch of the year in folk belief — is a small seasonal ritual of clearing summer heat. The cakes are a specialty of regions like Jiangsu and Anhui, often pressed in carved wooden molds into neat squares or auspicious patterns and given as gifts alongside zongzi. Two broad styles exist: a soft, oil-free "northern" type and a richer, oilier "southern" Soviet-style (苏式) version; the home recipe here is the simple steamed-and-pressed kind.
Ingredients
- 200 g split, skinless mung beans (绿豆瓣), soaked 3-4 hours
- 60-80 g sugar (to taste)
- 40 g neutral oil or unsalted butter
- a pinch of salt
- 1-2 tbsp water or milk (to loosen, if needed)
- optional: 30 g sweet red bean paste, for filling
Steps
- Drain the soaked mung beans and steam them over high heat for about 30 minutes, until completely soft and easily crushed.
- While still warm, mash the beans and press them through a sieve (or blend) to a smooth, fine paste.
- Cook the paste in a dry nonstick pan over medium-low heat with the sugar, salt, and oil, stirring constantly, until the sugar dissolves and the mixture thickens into a soft dough that holds together; add a splash of water or milk only if it gets too dry.
- Let the dough cool until just warm, then divide into small portions; if using filling, flatten a portion, wrap a little red bean paste inside, and seal.
- Press each portion firmly into an oiled mooncake or cookie mold (or shape into neat squares by hand) to form the cake.
- Chill for an hour to set; serve at room temperature, ideally within a couple of days.