Mung beans are low-profile – they’re so mild and clean, they’ll absorb the flavors of whatever you are cooking!
Asian cuisine shares many different ingredients. Some are more popular than others, generally speaking. In China and India, you’ll find that mung beans are particularly popular. These bean sprouts are crunchy and juicy at the same time, giving a nice boost of texture, flavor, and mouth-feel to your next experimental fusion dish. Take your stir-fries, soups, and egg rolls to the next level!
So What Are Mung Beans?
These sprouts are unassuming but tasty. These little silvery-white shoots feature small yellow leaves on one end, which is because of germination. Many different varieties of bean sprouts are raised to be used for food and culinary purposes. Still, mung beans are pretty much the kings of the hill. You can either eat them cooked or raw, but we advise you to lightly cook them to reduce foodborne illness. It’s such a versatile staple that you could easily substitute it into recipes that ask for rice or noodles.
How Do You Use Them?
That’s an excellent question! Throw them into your next stir-fry or batch of hot soup. As long as they stay somewhat crunchy, they’ll elevate the texture of whatever you are making. Plus, they make a yummy pairing with ginger, garlic, soy sauce, and sesame oil.
How Do They Taste?
Mung beans are low-profile – they’re so mild and clean, they’ll absorb the flavors of whatever you are cooking! As we said above, these sprouts are mainly there to add some extra crunch and juice – so layer them into hot pots, pho bowls, and tonkatsu ramen!
Some Fun Recipe Ideas
We’ve also collected some fun recipe ideas for you to try!
- Korean Bean Sprout Salad: Known as sookju namul, it’s a wildly popular side dish for bibimbap. Besides the bean sprouts themselves, you’ll need scallions, garlic, sesame oil, toasted sesame seeds, soy sauce, and salt.
- Stir-Fried Beef with Mung Bean Sprouts: If you want to improve your Chinese cooking game, this is the way to do it! For this recipe to take off, you’ll need lean beef pre-cut into strips, some mange tout, spring onions, chili, and a specially-formulated marinade that includes ginger, garlic, soy sauce, potato starch (or cornflour), rice wine, caster sugar, black pepper, and bicarbonate soda.
- Mongolian Chicken with Mung Bean Sprouts: Steamed green veggies and freshly prepared noodles will turn this dish into a dinnertime favorite! Along with those sides, be sure to make the marinade for the chicken. This marinade calls for oyster sauce, sugar, and cornstarch.
Get All Your Asian Groceries at Lotte Plaza Market
Lotte Plaza Market is your one-stop-shop for all of your Korean and Asian grocery needs. With more than 10 Maryland and Virginia locations, this growing market is continually expanding and opening new markets to better serve our customers. Since we opened in 1976, our goal has always been to provide the best customer service and groceries to our customers. For answers to all of your questions, please email us at LottePlaza.com.