With the circuit breaker in force due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there's one particular item that i have been making at my kitchen for the past few weeks; the super under-rated green bean soup which is said to be a cooling dessert suitable for Singapore's hot climate!
The recipe is easy and i shall share it for your benefit. Just note that i love the soup and not the beans; hence, i have the tendency to reduce the portion. If you love to chew on cooked green beans, by all means add more.
Ingredients
Green Bean - 5 tablespoons (about 1/3 cup)
Honey Rock Sugar - around 5 medium-sized pieces
Plain Water - 3500 ml
Sweet Potatoes - 2 larges pieces
Instructions
Wash the beans with plain water at least three times; as mentioned earlier, i don't enjoy beans that much and the amount i used would be considered little by many. My mom would have used about a cup of green beans for a similar portion.
Use 500 ml of the water and boil the green beans under high heat. Cover the pan / pot. If you have clean pandan leaves, you can tie up and put in two / three strips. The reason for using just 500 ml in the beginning is because we need to save time. The reasoning given to me is that we would have to wait too long for the water to boil if we throw all the water in. Oh well, there's always the electric kettle...
While waiting for the water to boil, let's proceed to peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into smaller pieces. Again, this is dependent on your preference but the smaller they are, the faster they will cook.
Once the water boils and the green beans start to 'dance', it's time to lower the heat to the minimum. Of course you can let the beans jump longer as you can then guarantee they will be cooked. The problem with them dancing too long is that their 'skin' starts to fall out and in my mom's opinion, that's a failed version of green bean soup.
Throw in the sweet potatoes at this point.
There might not be enough water to cover the sweet potatoes and you can add in more water. I used another 500 ml in this case.
After you are done, cover the pan / pot again. Again, the heat should be lowered to the minimum and my dear mom's advice is for you to monitor the conditions of the green beans as you wouldn't want them dancing too hard. Her conservative mind dictates that the green beans should be fully clothed when you eat them.
15 minutes had passed and it's time to add in the honey rock sugar! My family has always been using this type of rock sugar to make green bean soup as it gives an appetizing, floral sweetness to the soup. The older generation also believes rock sugar is better than refined sugar.
I normally add about 4-5 pieces of medium-size rock sugar but my version is said to be less sweet than my sister's. Using a clean spoon, you can taste and decide if you prefer the soup to be sweeter or less sweet; for the latter, you can just add in more water.
Once the rock sugars are all dissolved, your soup is ready! If you find the sweet potatoes still too raw, cook the soup a bit longer but don't cover the pot / pan. After which, take out a bowl to enjoy this delicious Asian dessert.
For the rest, wait for them to cool before transferring to an empty container, and putting it into the fridge. For me, this would last between 3-5 days and in hot weather, it's extremely tasty to have just one bowl.
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