Kudzu Root, Hyacinth Bean, Mung Bean & Coix Seed Drink

Why people make this drink

Even after the Mid-Autumn Festival, Hong Kong and southern China can remain stubbornly hot — and the body feels it. That end-of-summer heat has a particular quality: muscles feel heavy, the chest feels tight, the mood turns easily irritable, and headaches seem to settle at the back of the neck and across the shoulders. Traditional Cantonese food therapy has a long answer to this feeling, and kudzu root (粉葛, fen ge) is central to it. This starchy root vegetable is widely used in Cantonese soups and, when cooked long enough, produces a drink that is warming and clearing at the same time — not cold and harsh like some bitter herbal teas. Paired with mung beans, coix seeds, and hyacinth beans, it makes a pot that is remarkably easy to drink, earthy, and settling.

Method

1. Tear or scrape the outer skin from the kudzu root; rinse under running water and cut into large chunks.
2. Rinse the hyacinth beans, mung beans, coix seeds, and dried tangerine peel briefly; drain.
3. Place all the ingredients into a large pot. Add 2.4–2.7 L of cold water.
4. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a medium-low simmer and cook for 2 hours until reduced to about 1.2 L.
5. Serve warm. The soup can be drunk across the day.

Nourilo’s Tips

This soup is wonderfully fragrant and naturally sweet — no added sugar needed. The key is cooking it long enough (a full 2 hours) so the kudzu breaks down properly and releases all its starchy goodness. Kudzu has a natural muscle-relaxing quality and is associated with calming the nervous system, so when you’re feeling tense and irritable in late summer, this is the pot to reach for. A good one to simmer on a Sunday afternoon and keep in the fridge for the week.