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Spicy Chinese Edamame 毛豆


abcdefg

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Just wondering, has anybody tried these Edamame, either here in China or elsewhere in the world?

 

They are popular in Japanese restaurants and can also be easily found in Korea. They sometimes show up as bar snacks. Typically they are seen a lot in early summer in countries (such as China) where high-grade soybeans are grown. There they are sold as fresh, green pods or even as whole plants, as shown above. But they show up year round in places where the pods and their beans can only be bought frozen, such as North America and Europe. 

 

Historically they were an important resource during times of famine in China dating back at least to the Ming. Hungry people ate not only the entire seed pods, beans plus shells, but also the leaves of the plant. Sometimes they were dried, ground, and added to flour. They are very high in fiber as well as several important vitamins and nutrients.

 

Thought I would also mention that these can be made much more simply by just boiling in salted water. or they can even be steamed. Then they are usually eaten with a dipping sauce on the side. I've had them that way in 东北 Dongbei. They taste good like that too, especially when the pods are young and tender.

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4 hours ago, abcdefg said:

Just wondering, has anybody tried these Edamame, either here in China or elsewhere in the world?

Used to have plate after plate of 毛豆 on summer evenings in Beijing and Hebei.  They go especially well with 羊肉串 and beer.

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9 hours ago, abcdefg said:

Just wondering, has anybody tried these Edamame, either here in China or elsewhere in the world?

We get them frozen from a Costco-like store in my country and I usually just boil them wth a bit of salt, or steam them. It's a great snack.

 

They also offer these as appetizers in some Japanese restaurants. 

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All the edamame beans I've seen around here are shelled and 'tender' isn't an attribute of those I've tried. The recipe is great, I can see no reason why sugar snap peas or french beans or some other type of fresh beans in pods couldn't work as a substitute. 

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On 7/12/2017 at 5:00 PM, iekkim said:

They also offer these as appetizers in some Japanese restaurants. 

 

That's where I've most often seen them in the US.

 

On 7/12/2017 at 5:10 PM, somethingfunny said:

Yeah, I used to get them at a barbecue place.  I don't think they were spicy though.

 

Probably not. The most common way to make them is to just boil them in salty water.

 

On 7/12/2017 at 6:27 PM, Luxi said:

I can see no reason why sugar snap peas or french beans or some other type of fresh beans in pods couldn't work as a substitute. 

 

I'm sure they could be used. And a bonus would be that you could eat the whole pod, not only the beans inside it.

 

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These that I found here in the wet market this week were unusually fresh and tender. I've read that the best ones, like these, are cooked and eaten within 10 or 12 hours of when they were picked. That's a fast supply chain!

 

IMG_20170710_094122.thumb.jpg.ed393b70423b9cdf347a46de38f94f06.jpg

 

They sell them with the roots and leaves still attached as another strategy to keep them from drying out. When I first saw them like that, I didn't understand that the leaves and beans and roots were all the same plant. Had to look close. Plus, I'd never bought them like that. An old lady who was shopping there explained it to me.

 

Always and adventure to go to this outdoor market; I learn something new every time.

 

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  • 1 month later...

Looks great, abc. I make this often to go with beer, or as a light lunch. Like you, I always preferred them warm.

 

They're pretty common in NYC now. Started in Japanese restaurants, I'm sure, but you can find them fresh in the market for a large part of the year, and frozen at other times. Bars and "burger joints" will often list them as an appetizer or side dish. 

 

I usually kept a bag or two in the freezer while away at college and played with the soup, adding soy sauce or more spices depending on my mood. I found the soy sauce to be a pretty delicious addition. Just had them in Japan with what I think was a miso paste dressing - not sure if it was added during cooking or after, but was pretty good. 

 

My girlfriend and I would boil a huge pot of them (with lots of salt!) and take the bowl out to my apartment's stoop for a beer when the weather got nice. They often came covered in a ridiculous amount of 辣椒 and 花椒 in Chengdu; a favorite 火锅 restaurant among my friends would serve them as you waited outside on wooden stools. 

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