Tag: beans

Crowd Control

I can’t lie: I’m a sucker for a good pun. My sense of humor vacillates between dad jokes and caustic wit, but I can never resist a solid groaner. That brings me to the obvious need to turn crowder beans into chowder. The moment I started cooking with them, I knew that Crowder Chowder was inevitable, if only for the irresistible name.

Don’t worry, it’s more than just a fun rhyme. As with any proper chowder, the base is thick and creamy, making for a hearty bowl-in-one type of meal. Packed with potatoes and sweet corn, the crowder beans contribute an earthy meatiness, to say nothing of all their protein and fiber, without a single clam in sight.

Plenty of chowder recipes employ beans, especially white beans for their fairly neutral flavor, so it’s not like I’m breaking any new ground here. Crowder peas, however, may take some eaters by surprise this unconventional setting. Since they usually show up in straightforward company, simmered with onions, maybe a hunk of cornbread nearby, seeing them in more composed recipes could turn some heads. Lack of mainstream recognition further limits their range, unfairly, if you ask me. Anything white beans can do, the humble field pea can do, too.

Fully validated by the success of this experiment inspired by word play, Crowder Chowder is exactly the sort of recipe that makes a terrible pun feel justified. The name might make you roll your eyes at first, but one spoonful quickly changes the tone of the conversation. Sometimes the best ideas just sound silly on paper.

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Hannah (BitterSweet)7 Comments

Pea’s A Crowd

Staring down the bag labeled blandly as “field peas,” culled from the brightly lit grocery store shelf, I knew there was more to the story. Encompassing dozens of different legumes, field peas are a catch-all term for any Southern bean grown amongst the crops, as opposed to the home garden. That means you could grab a package of so-called field peas and find black-eye peas, lady peas, cream peas, purple hull peas, or zipper peas staring back at you, all under the same label.

This particular bundle was different though, which is why it caught my eye. Tiny as grains of uncooked brown rice, unlike any bean I had cooked before, I decided to buy first, ask questions later. Only after exhaustive research could I give my new prize a more accurate name: Crowder Peas.

What Exactly Are Crowder Peas?

As part of the field pea family, also known as cowpeas or Southern peas, crowder peas hail from Africa, brought to the US along with enslaved peoples. Through their skilled hands, agriculture thrived, using these heirloom beans to add nitrogen to the soil, enduring through extreme heat and drought alike.

Crowder peas come by their name quite literally, each pod being “crowded” with many peas as they grow. There are many varieties of crowder peas, too, including Mississippi Silver, Dixie Lee, Cream Peas, Zipper Peas, and more; some are rounded while others are fairly flat, varying from brown to white but shades may vary. If you’re looking for a single definitive example of the legume, you’re going to be disappointed. Harvested in the late summer, you’re unlikely to find them fresh, unless you live within a few miles of where they’re grown. More likely than not, you’ll find them dried year round, and occasionally canned.

Crowder Peas: Always In Good Taste

The mysterious crowder peas that I purchased reminded me visually of tiny tepary beans; dark, firm, and robust. They’re a bean-lover’s bean, loud and proud, earthy, starchy, sometimes nutty, and always savory. Where black-eyed peas can taste bright and grassy, crowders are deeper and more grounded. The rounder varieties may be a bit creamier, but all are built to withstand long stews and braises. That potlikker is a prize all by itself, slightly thickened and dark as red wine. Traditionally seasoned with a simple array of onions, garlic, paprika, and often ham, you’d be crazy to think about draining it away.

Crowder Pea Nutrition? Bean There, Done That

Between you and me, I wish we could skip the section on nutrition for these bean deep-dives because they’re all starting to read the same. Unsurprisingly, they’re high in protein and fiber, B vitamins, folate, magnesium, and iron. Spoiler alert: there is no such thing as an unhealthy legume. Next!

Cooking Crowder Peas

Dried crowder peas are a pantry gift, especially in cooler months when fresh produce feels scarce. Soaking them for several hours, or overnight, shortens the cooking time and encourages even tenderness, though it’s not strictly required.

  • Stove Top: If soaked in advance, crowder peas take about 1 – 1 1/2 hours to cook, covered by at least 1 inch of water and gently simmered. Check on the water level and add more if too much evaporates during the process. If unsoaked, it can take closer to 2 hours on the heat.
  • Pressure Cooker: This is my method of choice because it requires no soaking and is still done in less time. Cover crowder peas with at least 2 inches of water and cook on high pressure for 20 minutes. Allow the pressure to release naturally.

Only after cooking should you add salt. Drain or enjoy along with the potlikker, as is most traditional. Note that those who sometimes have trouble digesting beans would be better served to drain the liquid, which contains a considerable amount of the oligosaccharides (raffinose and stachyose) responsible.

Crowd-Sourcing Serving Suggestions

Crowder peas would be out of place on a complex plate. They’re at their best when seasoned simply, nestled besides humble staples like stewed greens, rice, mashed potatoes, cornbread, or even plain old buttered white bread. Made for big pots, long simmers, and recipes designed to stretch across days, they’re deeply rooted in Southern culture, especially in rural and agricultural communities where field peas were a staple crop. A few traditional uses include:

  • Field Peas & Snaps: Contrary to the modern interpretation that employs green beans, “snaps” refers to the whole pea pods that are too tender to shell, simply snapped in half and cooked together with the peas.
  • Hoppin’ John: While black-eyed peas have become the favored bean for this fortuitous dish, older recipes made no qualms about using whatever field pea was at your disposal. The beans are meant to represent coins, paired with the greens for money, coalescing into a blessing for wealth in the New Year. That wouldn’t change whether your beans had black eyes or not.
  • Chilled Summer Salad: Be it a picnic or potluck, the humble crowder pea will serve you well. Since they hold their shape after cooking, they’re prime candidates for the salad treatment, often tossed in a mustardy vinaigrette with tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, and more.

For more inspiration, look to the ever-popular black-eyed pea. It’s the most common field pea on the market, leading to a great wealth of recipe ideas. From soup and chili to more modern veggie burgers, meatless loaves, and stuffed peppers, there’s almost no preparation that wouldn’t welcome a swap. Crowder peas can step in seamlessly, bringing a slightly creamier texture and deeper, earthier flavor to the same familiar formats.

Playing the Field

Given that I don’t have access to fresh crowder peas and can only dream of snapping their delicate little pods in two, I did have to resort to using garden-variety green beans to make my own version of field peas and snaps. On the bright side, this approach is much less labor-intensive, since you can buy bags of cut green beans ready to go. Since we’re not prisoners of tradition here, I have no qualms swapping out the conventional bacon or ham hock for the one-two punch of mushrooms and liquid smoke. Meat was always meant to be the seasoning, not the focal point, in any event.

Between the onions and garlic, you’ve got a classic starter pack for “what smell’s so good in here?” before the umami mushrooms even enter the picture. The crowder peas, ever reliable, stay creamy at the center yet intact, thickening the broth ever so slightly as they simmer. Served with liquid and all, nothing goes to waste, especially the leftovers.


Join The Crowd

Crowder peas may not have the name recognition of their fellow field pea cousins, but that only means there’s more room on the table for discovery. Sturdy, soulful, and reliably versatile, they’re equally at home in a Southern stew or a weeknight plant meat remix. If anything, their underdog status works in your favor; they arrive without expectations and leave with converts. Next time you see that vague little bag labeled “field peas,” don’t walk past it. There’s a whole new crowd worth getting to know.

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Hannah (BitterSweet)9 Comments

Refried or Die

Living in Texas has shown me the wonders of refried beans. Up until this point in my life, my primary reference was the stodgy, miscellaneous bean matter that emerges from a can in one solid brick. Minimally seasoned, mostly homogeneous, I never saw the appeal. Was it the adult equivalent of baby food, delivering nutrition with no teeth required? Mercifully, the real deal is anything but a culinary compromise, cementing its place in American foodways for many centuries to come.

Once Bitten, Twice Fried?

Pinto beans are the most common legume to be refried, thanks to their abundance, affordability, and creamy texture that breaks down easily with the lightest touch. Frijoles refritos were born in Mexico and contrary to common belief, mean “well-fried,” not “re-fried” beans. The idea is to stew them until they give up on individuality, fusing together as one. Like most marvelously simple dishes, the key ingredient is time.

What if there was a way to speed up the process without sacrificing flavor, texture, or nutrition, though? Sure, you could employ the handy old pressure cooker, or start with canned beans to begin with, but I believe I’ve found an even better shortcut. It’s time for red lentils to shine.

Paint The Town Red

I’ve never met a red lentil that wanted to stay whole. Instantly blending themselves into a rustic mash without even a passing glance at the immersion blender, they’re ideal for creating quick, creamy refritos on the fly. Moreover, their mild, earthy sweetness readily melds with savory aromatics, smoked paprika, and a touch of lime. Thickening into a supple, savory spread that clings beautifully to tortillas, toast, or whatever vehicle happens to be nearby, it’s remarkable what a few spare pantry staples can do.

Love Your Legumes

If you, like me, are late in discovering the joys of a proper refried bean, figuring out what to do with them is the biggest barrier to legume enlightenment. You can very happily eat them straight out of the pot, but you’d be doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t look for inspiration further afield. I can only scratch the surface on the multitude of possibilities:

  • Side dish: When the budget is tight, you really can’t beat a meal of brown rice and refried beans. You could serve them alongside any sort of Mexican or Tex-Mex specialties too, from enchiladas to rellenos.
  • Dip: All you need to do is add tortilla chips and boom, you’ve got bean dip! Take a step further by mixing in vegan sour cream, salsa or pico de gallo, and top with vegan cheese and/or cilantro for more festive fare. Don’t forget that 7-layer dip is always a possibility, too.
  • Nachos: Instead of dipping your chips, dollop the refried lentils right on top. This has the added benefit of being able to justify drowning your troubles in gooey queso while still getting a healthy serving of fiber and protein.
  • Tacos, burritos, and quesdillas: Leverage your refritos as the featured protein or let them support another main player in any of your favorite tortilla-based meals. A good bean and cheese burrito is the gold standard for a drunken late night snack, if you ask me.

These are the absolute basics, the classic examples that will never steer you wrong. That said, I’ve seen refried beans used in more imaginative creations like pizza, lasagna, dumplings… We’d be here all day if we kept talking about further adaptations.

Cut Out The Cans

I’m still loathe to buy a can of refried beans. As emergency rations, they excel. For daily subsistence, even on a budget or tight schedule, we can do better. Refried red lentils are my new ride-or-die staple food.

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Hannah (BitterSweet)7 Comments

Cran You Dig It?

Cranberry beans are a confounding lot. Some of them fulfill their titled promise as gleaming crimson, magenta, and maroon-speckled ovoids, bearing a rough resemblance to the fruits of their namesake. Most, however, deviate from that path, appearing in spotty shades of tan, off-white, and even black.

As one may guess, with such a diverse family tree, this worldly bush bean is hard to sum up in a concise little bio. Better known to the Italians as borlotti beans and to Colombians as cargamanto beans, this American native is one worth knowing in any language.

The Un-cranny Origins of Cranberry Beans

Said to have originated in South and Central America, the earliest written records come from Spanish explorers in the 15th century, transporting their culinary discoveries to Europe. Gardeners can’t even agree if these Phaseolus vulgaris are bush beans, pole beans, both, or neither. Regardless, their most striking characteristic isn’t the actual edible bean, but the vibrantly streaked pink and red pods, only seen if you’re so fortunate to find them fresh. Start searching your local farmers markets from late summer through early fall for a real savory treat. Shelling them is a meditative joy, and their flavor is unmatched.

What Do Cranberry Beans Taste Like?

Dried cranberry beans, of course, are most common and available all year round. Frequently compared to (and sadly substituted with) pinto beans, it’s a grave disservice to sell them so far short. Though they’re both about the same size, shape, and (sometimes) color, pinto beans will puree themselves if you look at them too hard. Cranberry beans stand firm, without being mealy, bearing a toothsome yet creamy, meaty texture that makes it a popular addition to soups and stews. Their mildly nutty, almost chestnut-like flavor plays well with others, whether kept very lightly seasoned or paired with more potent players.

Traditional Dishes Around the World

Given their extensive history spanning many countries, cranberry beans are associated with a number of beloved traditional dishes.

  • Italy: Pasta e Fagioli & Minestrone
    In Italian kitchens, cranberry beans are often the star of pasta e fagioli, a rustic soup of beans and pasta, simmered with garlic, rosemary, and olive oil. They also frequently make an appearance in minestrone, adding body and protein to the vegetable-rich broth.
  • Portugal: Feijão à Portuguesa
    This traditional Portuguese dish features cranberry beans stewed with tomatoes, onions, garlic, and sometimes chouriço (smoked sausage). It’s served with rice or crusty bread.
  • Brazil: Feijão Tropeiro
    Though typically made with black beans, regional variations use cranberry beans sautéed with cassava flour, greens, and spices. It’s a dish born from the resourcefulness of traveling merchants and remains a comfort food classic.
  • United States: Three Sisters
    Native Americans passed on their wisdom of bringing together the essential combination of corn, beans, and squash. The cranberry bean helps fix nitrogen and add nutrients that replenish the soil, making it a beneficial addition for both the planet and the planters.

In today’s global kitchen, the sky’s the limit. They’re fantastic tossed into salads, blended into veggie burgers, made into meatless loaves and balls, and pureed as creamy bean dip.

How To Cook Cranberry Beans

Like any larger legume, cranberry beans can benefit from an overnight soak. They’ll cook faster when they hit the heat and be more digestible in the long run. Drain the soaking water and cook in six to eight times as much fresh water by volume.

  • Stove top: Over medium heat, bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cover. Cook for about 1 hour, adding more water if too much evaporates; they should always remain submerged.
  • Pressure cooker: Cook on high pressure for 20 minutes, then allow for a natural release.
  • Slow cooker: Add enough water to cover the beans by at least an inch, cover, and cook on low for 10 – 12 hours.

Drain well and enjoy hot, or let cool and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 10 days.

Fresh cranberry beans are a whole different ball park. Once shelled, they only need to be simmered with enough water to barely cover for about 10 minutes. Then, you can sauté them with garlic, toss them into salads, and so much more.

Nutrition in Every Nook and Cranny

Beans are the undisputed nutritional champions of the world, bearing volumes of affordable plant protein and fiber in every serving. Cranberry beans are no different, with the added benefit of being notably high in B-vitamins, folate, zinc, manganese copper, calcium, and potassium. Especially high in antioxidants thanks to their trademark coloring, they’re a smart choice for overall health and well being.

When all is said and done, cranberry beans have nothing to do with their fruity namesake. They don’t look like cranberries. They don’t taste like cranberries. They don’t bounce or float like cranberries. The only explanation for their name is that some person with some misappropriated authority had a far more imaginative interpretation of the legume than warranted. The only parallel that can be drawn is that they’re sort of, sometimes, vaguely, red.

Thankfully, none of that matters once you’ve tasted them. Whatever the name, these heirloom beans are at the top of their class. Names may mislead, colors may fade, but such singular texture and unmistakable flavor endures through generations for a reason.

Hannah (BitterSweet)4 Comments

Sweet Beans: All About Adzuki

Drawn in by the scent of sweet pancakes sizzling between two iron plates, much like the nostalgic aroma of waffle cones in the ice cream parlors of my youth, I had no idea that this would be my first encounter with adzuki beans. I was in Japan for the first time, bearing more sweet teeth than a shark, and all I knew was that this captivating treat needed to be mine. Emerging from the hot press shaped like a rotund fish, everything about this indescribable flavor was a mystery. It wasn’t until long afterward that I discovered the leguminous truth. Given my impossibly picky nature at that time, it’s probably for the best.

Adzuki beans, often referred to as sweet red beans, aren’t called that for nothing. Though they’re traditionally boiled in a sugar syrup to enhance that aspect, wagashi (Japanese sweets) would be nothing without them. As one of the most ancient of legumes, they’ve played a crucial role in the development of society itself. We’re just so lucky that at this point in history, we can simply indulge in both the sweet and savory results.

A Bean With a Dream: A Brief History of Adzuki

The earliest ancestors of adzuki beans may have originated some 50,000 years ago in the foothills of the Himalayas, though they certainly didn’t look like the legume we know and love today. Domesticated adzuki beans can trace their lineage back over 10,000 years, first cultivated in Japan, eventually taking root across all of East Asia. They were one of the first crops subjected to selective breeding, long before the term GMO was bandied about, naturally favoring longer pods with fewer seeds and more consistent coloring.

Aside from their obvious culinary prowess as a foundational ingredient in macrobiotic cookery and modern pantries, they were revered as having magical powers. In both Korean and Japanese folklore, adzuki beans were believed to ward off evil spirits. Their vibrant red color symbolized protection and vitality. For centuries, they’ve been used not only in celebratory sweets like mochi, yokan, and dorayaki (more on that later), but also in temple offerings and new year dishes. Most notably, sekihan, a sticky rice steamed with adzuki, is a traditional harbinger of good luck.

Their name tells a story of accuracy, if not creativity. “Adzuki” comes from a Romanized spelling of the Japanese “azuki” (小豆), which roughly translates to “small bean.” In Chinese, they’re known as “hong dou” (红豆), AKA “red bean” Then, in Vietnamese, they’re called “đậu đỏ;” you guessed it, “red bean.”

What Do Adzuki Beans Taste Like?

Imagine the nutty, creamy softness of chestnuts, the mild sweetness of cooked oats, and the subtly tannic depth of black tea. Adzuki beans have a gentle, earthy flavor, with a surprising natural sweetness that lends itself to desserts. In fact, it wasn’t until my late teens that I even considered using them in any savory preparations.

Texturally, they’re supple but structured. They hold their shape, when a whole bean is desired, while just as easily blending into a silky-smooth puree. You can often find red bean paste (anko) canned with added sugar, which is either completely smooth or left slightly chunky, for making traditional sweets.

Anko

Nutrition For Days

Don’t let their diminutive size fool you; adzuki beans are compact nutritional powerhouses. Exceptionally high in protein and fiber, they’re low fat and high complex carbs, ideal for sustained energy. They’re rich in magnesium, potassium, iron, and zinc, along with proanthocyanidins, which are the same antioxidants found in red wine and berries. Because they’re smaller and less starchy than other beans, many find adzuki easier to digest.

In traditional Chinese medicine, they’re even used as a tonic for the kidneys and bladder, believed to balance yin energy and support circulation.

Macrobiotic principles, which draw from Buddhist philosophy and traditional Eastern medicine, consider adzuki beans to be uniquely balanced. Gentle, grounding, and nourishing, they’re considered the most warming of all beans, and thus, ideal for healing and gaining strength.

Unlike other beans, which can be heavy, gassy, or overly yin (cold and expansive), adzuki are seen as the most energetically balanced legume.

Zenzai

How to Cook Adzuki Beans

Though rarely sold in cans as whole, unsweetened beans, dry adzuki beans are remarkably cooperative. They’re one of the only beans that don’t require pre-soaking no matter the cooking method.

Always start by picking through to remove any stones or shriveled beans. Rinse and drain thoroughly. Use 1 part beans to 4 parts water, and save the salt until after they’re cooked. Macrobiotic cookery suggests adding kombu to the pot, much as you would bay leaves, to improve digestibility, add umami, and minerals like iodine, calcium, and magnesium.

  • Stove Top Method: In a large pot over medium heat, bring to a boil, reduce to low, and simmer uncovered for 40 – 60 minutes.
  • Pressure Cooker: Seal and cook over high pressure for 20 minutes. Allow for a natural release.

They’re done when soft but not split. Drain well and salt to taste.

  • Adzuki beans are also a wonderful candidate for sprouting! Soak for 8 – 12 hours, rinse twice daily, and in 3–4 days, you’ll have crisp, fresh sprouts with a sweet crunch, perfect for grain bowls, wraps, or salads.

IMG_1693 どら焼き dorayaki (wiggle 3D, look at the original size)

How to Use Adzuki Beans

Adzuki beans walk seamlessly between all worlds. Sweet, savory, rustic, refined; there’s a place for them at every table. Given how deeply rooted they are in many time-honored foodways, it’s difficult to compile every possible serving suggestion, or even hone it down to the best hits.

That said, I feel its my duty to at least try.

Japanese Dishes

  • Daifuku (Mochi): Perhaps the most iconic of all, these chewy pounded rice cakes are filled with sweetened adzuki paste (anko.)
  • Dorayaki: Two fluffy pancakes sandwich anko filling in the middle.
  • Yokan: Elegant, sliceable jellied anko made with agar. Firm, refined, and best served chilled with green tea.
  • Zenzai / Oshiruko: Warm red bean soup with mochi dumplings (dango). Soft, sweet, and soul-soothing on cold days.
  • Anmitsu / Mitsumame: Colorful agar cubes, fruits, and anko drizzled with kuromitsu (black sugar syrup), sometimes topped with ice cream for a summertime treat.
  • Taiyaki: Fish-shaped cakes filled with anko. Perfect for a portable treat, they’re closely associated with festivals and street fairs.

  • Manju: Dense steamed or baked buns filled with anko. They can simply be round or shaped like animals, such as birds, leaves, rabbits, and even Totoro!
  • Sekihan: Sticky glutinous rice steamed with adzuki beans, lightly salted. A celebratory dish for birthdays, weddings, and milestones, it symbolizes happiness and good fortune.
  • Amanatto: Candied beans that are lightly dried and coated in sugar, meant for snacking.

Chinese Dishes

  • Hong Dou Tang (紅豆湯): A classic dessert soup made with adzuki beans, often simmered with dried tangerine peel, lotus seeds, or barley. Served warm in the winter or chilled in the summer, it’s comforting, cleansing, and deeply nostalgic.
  • Red Bean Baozi (豆沙包): Soft, pillowy steamed buns filled with sweetened red bean paste. Commonly eaten for breakfast or dim sum, these are pure comfort food—lightly sweet, tender, and portable.
  • Mooncakes: In Mid-Autumn Festival, mooncakes come in many flavors. Sweet red bean paste is a common option, sometimes enriched with lotus seeds or jujubes for added complexity.
  • Red Bean Rice Cake (年糕): Similar to baked mochi, these glutinous rice cakes are studded with whole red beans and are a popular New Year treat, symbolizing luck and prosperity.
  • Red Bean Tangyuan: Chewy glutinous rice dumplings filled with sweet bean paste, served in a clear ginger syrup. Eaten during the Lantern Festival, these symbolize reunion and warmth.

[VIDEO] CÁCH LÀM CHÈ BA MÀU (CHÈ THẬP CẨM) – THREE-COLOR DESSERT

Vietnamese Dishes

  • Chè Đậu Đỏ / Chè Đậu Đen: Adzuki beans simmered with coconut milk and sugar, often served over crushed ice in the summer or warm with sticky rice in the winter.
  • Bánh Rán / Bánh Cam: Crisp, golden sesame-coated rice balls that have been deep-fried, sometimes smothered in a sticky sugar syrup, and filled with smooth red bean paste. Slightly chewy, deeply satisfying, and often found at street stalls.
  • Chè Ba Màu: Often described as “three layer pudding,” these colorful parfaits stack up adzuki bean and mung bean pastes, pandan jelly, and sweet coconut sauce. They’re served icy cold and are extremely popular when it’s hot out.

Modern & Fusion Dishes

  • Red Bean Ice Cream: Popular across Asia and beyond, adzuki bean ice cream has a creamy base with soft bean bits—earthy, sweet, and beautifully unexpected.
  • Adzuki Bean Mousse: Both elegant and earthy, adzuki bean mousse blends the creamy richness of a classic chocolate or vanilla mousse with the subtle sweetness and grounded depth of adzuki beans. It can be the main attraction, or part of a more complex dessert.
  • Smoothies & Lattes: Cooked adzuki beans can instantly pump up the protein and satiating factor for blended drinks.
  • Adzuki Brownies: Forget black bean brownies. Mashed adzuki beans mix seamlessly into batters, adding a nutty depth that plays surprisingly well with chocolate, while creating an uncanny fudge-like texture.
  • Meatless Burgers: Swap in adzuki for any of your favorite bean-based burger patties.
  • Wontons or Dumplings: Especially well-suited as filling for gyoza, AKA pot stickers, whole, mashed, or chopped beans are right at home wrapped up in dumpling skin.
  • Adzuki Hummus and Bean Dip: Anything chickpeas can do, adzuki can, too. It’s especially fun to play with the flavor palate to lean into its Asian origin by incorporating sesame oil, tamari, or a hint of ginger.
  • Spread on Toast: Anko makes a nutritious and tasty substitute for sugary fruit jams. For that matter, it’s just as satisfying in peanut butter sandwiches, or spread on bananas for a quick snack.
  • Soups, Stews, Curry, and Chili: Since adzuki beans hold up so well under pressure, they’re ideal for any simmered savory dish where you want your beans to stay intact.

Adzuki Beans: Past, Present, and Forever

It’s easy to overlook something as small and quiet as an adzuki bean. They’ve been around for thousands of years, unbothered by passing trends. They’ve touched countless lives, found themselves boiled, mashed, candied, fermented, steamed, and simmered, showing up in ceremonial meals and weekday soups. They’ve crossed borders and cultures, changed shape and form, and still managed to stay distinctive, true to form.

In a world where ingredients are constantly being rebranded and revitalized, adzuki beans are steady. They adapt, but they don’t ask for attention. When you cook with them, you’re not just following a recipe. You’re continuing something that began long before you, and will likely continue long after. Everyone should be so fortunate to have adzuki beans in their pantry.

Hannah (BitterSweet)5 Comments

Hu-Mung-Ous Claims

Beans are the new eggs, and in the case of mung beans, I mean that literally. They’ve had the market cornered as a vital source of protein for millennia, but only now that they’re blended and bottled as a liquid egg substitute have they skyrocketed in popularity across the US. Thanks to their ability to create silky curds or fluffy omelets, these tiny legumes have become a big deal.

Aside from their headlining credit on JUST egg‘s list of ingredients though, widespread awareness seems to dwindle. Make no mistake, mung beans aren’t just JUST egg; they aren’t just a pantry staple either. Whole, split, or sprouted, mung beans bring a whole lot to the table.

Mung Beans Through the Ages

Cultivated and consumed for multiple millennia, mung beans (Vigna radiata) are believed to have originated on the Indian subcontinent, where evidence shows they have grown for well over 4,000 years. As such, mung beans were particularly prized in Southeast Asia, China, and India, where they thrived in climates otherwise inhospitable to most agriculture. Their resilience to heat and drought made them an essential crop in regions affected by monsoons and dry spells, contributing significantly to local food security.

Over time, mung beans became deeply embedded in culinary and medicinal traditions across Asia. Their ability to be sprouted, ground into flour, or eaten whole added to their versatility and made them a dietary staple across diverse cultures.

Nutrition For Days

Nutritionally rich in every form, their health benefits do vary slightly depending on how they’re processed and prepared. Whole mung beans, with their green husks intact, naturally offer the most fiber and highest levels of folate, magnesium, potassium, iron, and B vitamins. Split mung beans, commonly known as moong dal, are hulled and halved versions, which reduces the fiber content to around 8 grams per 100 grams but makes the beans significantly easier to digest and quicker to cook. Both boast impressive amounts of protein, to the tune of 23 – 24 grams per 100 grams of dry beans.

Mung bean sprouts are in a whole different category, with much less protein due to their higher water content and lower overall density. Sprouting enhances the beans’ vitamin content, particularly vitamin C, and boosts folate and vitamin K levels. Sprouting also activates enzymes that reduce anti-nutrients like phytic acid and lectins, improving the bio-availability of minerals and aiding digestion.

Cooking Tips and Tricks

Dried mung beans, whether whole or split, are easy to prepare and cook quickly compared to many other legumes. They don’t need to be soaked, though some recipes still take this step to either speed through the cooking time, or because they’ll be ground into a batter as is, without being heated first.

  • For straight-forward stove top prep, it’s as easy as combining one 1 part whole or split mung beans with 3 parts water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer. Whole mung beans usually take around 35 – 45 minutes to reach that just-tender texture; split are far speedier, softening in just 20 – 30 minutes. Don’t forget to skim off any foam, and drain well.
  • In a pressure cooker, the whole process is faster than ordering takeout. Whole mung beans take about 10 – 12 minutes at high pressure, while split need just 6 – 8 minutes, followed by a natural release, and they’ll be ready to melt into whatever comforting concoction you have in mind.

Spice them up with garlic, ginger, turmeric, and beyond, but save anything acidic, like tomatoes or lime juice, for the end. Acid can make them a bit stubborn when it comes to softening. For the same reason, resist the urge to salt before cooking. Once cooked, they store beautifully in the fridge for up to five days or in the freezer for months, at least in theory. Hopefully you’ll go through them before finding out the limits of that approach.

Bean sprouts can be eaten raw, blanched, boiled, or steamed. In most cases, you’re best off grabbing a bundle from the store ready to go, but if you’re more patient, you can sprout your own at home from whole mung beans.

  • Soak them overnight, then drain and rinse twice daily in a glass jar covered with a breathable cloth. Keep the jar in a cool, dark spot, and within 3 to 5 days, you’ll have crisp, juicy sprouts ready to toss into salads, stir-fries, or spring rolls. Once sprouted to your liking, store them in the fridge and use within a few days for peak freshness.

Sweet, Savory, Spicy, Salty, Sour, and All Things In Between

Mung beans may be small, but they wear many hats in kitchens around the world, spanning comfort foods, protein boosters, and even desserts.

Whole mung beans have a more earthy flavor and hold together better than split. That means that when gently cooked, they can be chilled and tossed into salads, or simmered harder to make hearty soups. In Indian cuisine, they shine in sabut moong dal; a simple, spiced stew that simmers slowly until the beans are tender and flavorful. In Filipino munggo guisado, they’re sautéed with garlic, tomatoes, and sometimes bitter greens for a nourishing one-pot meal. Che ba mau is a popular three-color dessert in Vietnam that often includes mung bean in the form of candied bean paste as one of its key components, alongside coconut milk and agar jelly. You can also toss them into grain bowls, use them as a filling for wraps, or mash them into savory veggie patties or fritters.

Split mung beans are the go-to for creamy, comforting dishes that cook in a flash. Think dal tadka, where the cooked lentils are finished with a sizzling tempering of spices, or khichdi, the ultimate Indian comfort food made with rice, moong dal, and gentle seasonings, perfect for rainy days, sick days, or any day when you need a little edible TLC. They’re also used in savory pancakes like South Indian pesarattu, or in Burmese mohinga, a lemongrass-scented noodle soup thickened with ground mung. Bearing an uncanny resemblance to conventional chicken eggs when blended with water and scrambled, these are the key to everyone’s beloved liquid egg replacer.

Mung bean sprouts, on the other hand, are all about lightness and crunch. In Korean cuisine, they’re tossed with sesame oil and garlic to make sukju namul, a crisp, cooling side dish. In Vietnam, they’re essential to pho, adding that snap of freshness on top of a steaming bowl of noodles. You’ll also find them stir-fried with tofu in Chinese dishes, stuffed into rice paper rolls, or piled high in Thai salads. They’re great even in the most pedestrian dishes, like regular old sandwiches or grain bowls, adding a bright, juicy crunch.

Mung bean starch, as a little bonus, is used to make clear, jelly-like noodles. Known as liangfeng, occasionally it’s called “green bean jello,” in a case of poor translation. The starch is harder to find in the US, but abundantly available in most Asian markets. In smaller doses, it can be used to thicken sauces, similar to the effects of cornstarch and potato starch.

Beans and Beyond

It’s tempting to define mung beans by their most buzz-worthy uses as plant-based substitutes, but their value goes far beyond bottles and branding. Long before they found their way into liquid egg replacers, mung beans were nourishing entire cultures, quietly anchoring meals with substance, versatility, and ease. They’re not just a clever alternative, but a complete ingredient in their own right. Whether whole, split, or sprouted, mung beans meet you where you are, ready to adapt to whatever the moment (and your appetite) calls for.

Hannah (BitterSweet)9 Comments