Yin Chen, Adzuki Bean & Mung Bean Soup

Why people make this soup

As the weather turns warm and humid in late winter and spring, it becomes easy for dampness to accumulate inside the body — especially for people who sit most of the day, move little, and tend to eat cold, sweet, or fried foods. When internal dampness combines with the external damp-heat of the season, the result is a familiar sluggishness: that heavy-headed, groggy feeling where even a full night of sleep leaves you tired. For those who also stay up late, or have liver function concerns (liver inflammation, fatty liver, or elevated liver enzymes), Nourilo recommends this soup: three humble, inexpensive ingredients that together are traditionally associated with clearing liver heat, easing dampness, and lifting that foggy, heavy feeling.