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Thursday, June 23, 2011

Green Soy Beans In Wine

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Maodou means 'hair/hairy beans' in Chinese.

The Shanghainese, like the Japanese, love green soybeans (maodou in Shanghainese, edamame in Japanese). If you go to a Shanghai market in the summer, you'll find lots of green soybeans, in their pods or shelled. Green soy beans are usually shelled and fried with preserved veg called xuecai and tofu sheets called bai yeh while the unshelled beans are boiled and soaked in zaolu (wine made from leftover sediment of rice wine) and served chilled as an refreshing snack or appetizer. Every time we are in Shanghai, there's  a large bowl of drunken maodou in Eldest Aunt's fridge or on the tables at the restaurants.

If you get fresh maodou where you are, lucky you. Maodou are packed with protein and nutrients so make them part of your diet. You can fry the shelled beans like I did here or boil them with salt Japanese style or soak them in wine Shanghainese style. I can't get zaolu here, so I use Shaoxing hua tiao wine which is a pale substitute to the intensely aromatic zaolu. This recipe is adapted from here.

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Green Soy Beans In Wine
500 gm green soybeans (edamame, maodou)
1 cup Shaoxing hua tiao wine
1 t salt
1 t caster sugar
1 piece 8 cm cinnamon bark and 1 star anise

1. Snip both ends of the maodou for the wine to soak in. Boil the beans in a pot of water. Some like the beans soft but I like them quite raw so for frozen beans, one minute of boiling is good but boil longer if beans are fresh & unfrozen.  Remove the beans with a sieve or scoop and plunge into cold water to stop the cooking and to keep the beans green.

2. Pour away all but one cup of the boiled water and add the spices, sugar and salt. Boil for 3 to 5 minutes. Cool.

3. Add the wine to the spiced water and pour that over the green beans. Cover and leave to chill in the fridge for at least 8 hours or overnight. Turn the beans once every few hours to get even soaking.

9 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. This is super delicious, I finished the last few pods :). Thank you for inviting us to your home and all the yummy food that you prepared with love. Till next time !!

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  3. You can grow your own. I used to grow in my patio.
    http://msgreenfingers.blogspot.com/2009/05/my-soy-beans.html
    Just put dried soy beans in soil and soon you will have your own home grown soy beans.

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  4. Hunger..... :(
    Come over here and cook for me mum. >:)

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  5. this dish is the prefect example of these two axioms:

    Simplicity Is Elegance.

    K.I.S.S. = Keep It Simple Stupid.

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  6. oki: make it soon:)

    malaymui: you are welcome. we enjoyed ourselves. i was a little upset about the overdone fillets n the wagyu topside wasn't marbled:( but, the company was great!

    blurting:use ordinary soy beans? i'll plant some immediately; thnks!

    ming: but it's too cold...maybe later?

    lunch guy: keep it simple sexy sounds better:0

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  7. Your pictures look fabulous, with amazing details (fuzz on the soybeans). I MUST try this . . . they look "ono" (Hawaiian for delicious).

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  8. I finally got around to making this, and it was absolutely delicious. It was worth the trouble to snip both ends off each pod. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe.

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