2 cup dry mung beans (10 ounces)
1 cup sugar, granulated
2/3 cup cornstarch
2/3 cup coconut milk (or heavy cream )
1/4 tsp vanilla
Directions
Dry mash mung beans are available in Oriental food shops. Prepare mung
beans puree before making cake. Soak dry mung beans in hot water for
three hours. Rub the beans to remove the hulls, rinse well and pour
them off. Cook with 1 cup water until the beans are done and the
water evaporated. Stir cooked mung beans with a wooden or plastic
spatula until it is smooth. Dissolve sugar in coconut milk over low
heat. Pour mixture into mung bean puree. Add vanilla. Stir well to
make a smooth mixture. Pour into a preheated greased baking dish 8
inches in diameter and 3 inches in depth. Bake uncovered in a medium
oven (350^F) until golden brown (about 1 hour). NOTES: Cooked mung
beans, sugar, cornstarch, coconut and vanilla can be mixed in a
blender. After mixing, bake as indicated above. Source: Vietnamese
Dishes by Duong Thi Thanh Lien
Servings: 6 servings
Banh Dau Xanh (Mung Bean Cake) Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Bean; Cake; Dessert
The History of Recipes
Transcribed cooking instructions as an idea can be observed way back into ancient history, in fact as far back into history as pharonic Egypt, and quite possibly further than that. In practice though, generally, these old records were just primitive pictorial, hieroglyphic or cunieform instructions for meal preparation.
Fascinatingly, the most ancient recipe in existence, according to experts in ancient history are some ancient tablets in the Sumerian language which recount the baking of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making people feel exhilarated. As we move into The time of the roman empire around 25BC a man called Apicius compiled some documents showing how to cook the recipes enjoyed by the Romans. He recounts how the roman meals were separated into hors d`oeuvre, main meal and afters, something we still use today. This early Roman chef tells us how the chefs of Roman times used a wide range of herbs, including a few that will be familiar to modern cooks for example thyme, mint and asafoetida. Moving our culinary historical trip onwards, we have some books which were published in the fourteenth century ; a book titled `Forme of Cury`, and another called `Curye on Inglish`. Perhaps surprisingly, these books have no connection with the spicy food that is familiar to us all today, but rather recipes for the types of meals prepared for the rich people of that time. In the 15th century, people returning from the crusades brought us many new spices and herbs from middle-east cuisine, such as rosemary and coriander. These new foods and spices created an outbreak in manuscripts on cookery, most of which still exist in private collections. Over the next few hundred years, the rich and powerful families of Wesstern Europe tried to lay on the most exotic meals, and because of this cooks and their recipe collections were greatly in demand. Nevertheless, it wasn`t until the 1800s that cooking and recipe books really came of age. Mrs Isabella Beeton in the UK, and the equally well-known Fannie Merritt Farmer in the USA, devoted their lives to collecting, trying out, and recording popular recipes of the day. When we get to the 1900s, cookery books were increasing in popularity mostly due to higher levels of literacy, people having more free time and having more money. The arrival of TV brings us celebrity chefs and the recipe books that accompanied them. Which pretty much brings us to the present day and the invention of the internet, permitting everybody to access thousands of recipes like the ones you can find on our site. |
We hope you enjoy this Banh Dau Xanh (Mung Bean Cake) recipe.
