Vegan Bunny Elle

Make this iconic Chinese street food at home! These refreshing mung bean jelly noodles are flexible, stretchy, chewy, and made of only two ingredients.

Liang Fen is a type of cold noodle dish that is super popular in China, especially as a street food. These cold noodles are made from two ingredients – mung bean starch and water. They are freshly made on a daily basis, sliced on the spot, served cold with a savory, tangy sauce and various toppings.

A lof of you wondered if other types of starch can work. Honestly I don’t recommend substituting the mung bean starch for this specific recipe because different plants have different lengths of chain structure in their starch content, and mung bean starch is just the perfect one for making Liang Fen. You can usually find mung bean starch at Asian grocery stores or get it online. This link is the one I use.

The most important thing in the making of Liang Fen is temperature! The entire magic is based on a chemical reaction called starch gelatinization. Follow the instructions below closely to ensure success!

Chinese Liang Fen Mung Bean Jelly Noodles

THE hot weather go-to dish! Make this iconic Chinese street food at home and enjoy all summer long.

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Ingredients Method Video Notes

Ingredients

  

• 1 cup mung bean starch see notes
• 1 cucumber
• 5 1/2 cup water
• Fresh cilantro as needed
• Roasted peanuts
• 1 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon coconut amino
• 1/2 tablespoon dark rice vinegar

For the Chili Oil

• 1/3 cup avocado oil
• 1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorn
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 scallion chopped
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 4-5 Chinese dry red chili peppers chopped
• 1/2 tablespoon gochugaru
• 1/2 tablespoon Sichuan chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon white sesame
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Method

 

1. Peel the cucumber and blend the peel with 1 cup of water to make cucumber juice, filter the juice through a sift to get rid of any debris, thinly slice the rest of the cucumber for serving;
2. The ratio of mung bean starch to water should be 1:5.5 to 1:6 by volume (not weight!). I do NOT recommend waring off of this ratio too much in either direction, it’ll either not set or set too hard and unpleasant to eat;
3. Sift the mung bean starch into the cucumber juice while stirring constantly, until the starch is dissolved in the liquid;
4. In a large pan, heat the rest of the water, watch closely, until you see tiny bubbles start to form at the bottom of the pan, NOT reaching a boil yet, keep the heat low;
5. Slowly pour the starch mixture into the pan while stirring vigorously, continue to stir to mix the starch and liquid very well, keep stirring gently and you should slowly see the color starts to change, from a cloudy whitish green to a darker and more vibrant green, and also become more and more translucent;
6. Once you see no “white” left in the pan and the entire mixture becomes consistent and translucent, take it off the heat;
7. Pour into a clean container, and let it cool down at room temperature, not in the fridge! The temperature in your fridge is too cold so it messes with the gelatinization process and the Liang Fen will set hard and cloudy instead of clear and flexible;
8. Wait for the mixture to completely cool down and set, it takes a couple of hours depending on the amount you made, once it feels sturdy to touch, flip the bowl over and release the jelly, it seperates naturally from the container once set;
9. Splash a little water on the Liang Fen block, you can use a scraper to slice it into noodles or simply cut with a knife into thin strips;
10. If making the chili oil, heat the oil with the bay leaf and peppercorn over medium heat for 15 minutes, maintaining a gentle bubbling around the spices, once the oil is infused take out the bay leaf and peppercorn;
11. Gather the rest of the spices, scallion, and garlic into a bowl, pour the hot infused oil over them, let it sizzle and stir to mix evenly, enjoy the sizzle! Store the chili oil in a clean jar in the fridge.
12. When ready to serve, mix together the soy sauce, vinegar, and coconut amino, place the mung bean jelly noodles in a bowl, pour the sauce over the noodles plus a few teaspoons of the chili oil we just made! Top with chopped cilantro, sliced cucumber, and roasted peanuts, and any other sides you like, enjoy!

Video

Notes

• If you can’t find mung bean starch at your grocery store, here’s the one I always buy online – Ling Fen mung bean starch;
• Here’s the liang fen scraper I used, you can also just use a knife to cut the jelly into thin strips,