Mung Bean Paste 綠豆沙餡

By Ellen L. Published: 2019-06-07

This is one of the classic Chinese pastry cake fillings, the Green Mung Bean Paste 綠豆沙餡, a light, creamy, beany and nutty sweet golden filling that is one of my favorite fillings.  We used this paste to make our yummilicious Green Mung Bean Cakes 綠豆糕 for Duanwu Dragon Boat Festival  端午節 this year but actually it is more often used in as a tender filling for various Chinese cakes, pastries, cookies and even mooncakes.

The mung bean is often also known as the Chinese green bean and actually in Chinese it is known literally as  "green bean" or 綠豆.  At this point you might be thinking I'm crazy and wondering 'where's the green she's going on about?'

Well, the green mung bean really does have a green skin I swear...it's just that these are skinless mung beans and it turns out that green mung beans with no clothes on are a gorgeous golden yellow.

You can find these skinless green mung beans at your local wet market or Asian grocery store in the dried goods sections.  These same beans are also often used in Indian cuisine and are known as split yellow mung beans, yellow mung dal, or moong dal.

Making the mung bean paste is pretty straight forward.  The green mung beans are first steamed until cooked and soft all the way through.

Then get out your handy food stick blender and blast the cooked mung beans into a paste.  Easy peasy!

Brown sugar is added and the bean paste is cooked over low heat until the sugar is completely melted and the paste no longer sticks to your finger when you touch it.  And your green mung bean paste is done and ready to use as deliciously tender and sweetly beanilicious fillings for Chinese pastries and cakes and mooncakes or even as the outer shell of a pastry such as the yummy Green Bean Cake 綠豆糕.  

One of the best things about the Green Mung Bean paste is the fact that there is no oil used in making it unlike other fillings and it shows through in how light, tender and delicious this paste is!

Don't forget the other traditional Chinese fillings such as red bean paste 紅豆沙, Chinese date paste 棗泥餡,  lotus seed paste 白蓮蓉 and custard 奶皇.  So yummy when freshly homemade!

When done the paste looks tender and fluffy like this but is easy shaped into smooth balls.

Green Mung Bean Paste Recipe

綠豆沙餡
(4 cups, 600g of paste) Prep time: 5 mins  Cooking time: 25 mins

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups skinless mung beans, 300g
• 1 1/2 cup water, 350g
• 3/4 cup brown sugar, 150g

Directions:

Rinse the mung beans and drain.  Put the drained mung beans and water in a dish and steam for 20 mins or until beans are soft all the way through.  

Remove from steamer and use a stick blender to puree the beans into paste.  

Add the bean puree and sugar to a large pan and stir fry over low heat, constantly flipping the paste over, until the sugar is completely melted and the paste no longer sticks to your finger when touched.

Let cool completely and it is ready to be weighed and shaped to be used as a filling for cakes and pastries.  

Pastry Fillings at The Hong Kong Cookery:

Grandma's Red Bean Paste 紅豆沙

Chestnut Purée 栗子泥

Homemade White Bean Paste 白豆沙餡

Homemade Lotus Seed Paste 白蓮蓉

Sweet Potato Filling Paste 紫蕃薯餡

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