Chinese legume dishes?

[flies]

I've read that legumes are eaten in China, esp by those who can't afford much meat. Aside from tofu dishes and plain edamame, I've never seen any recipe for a Chinese dish with legumes. Do they exist?

[huiray]

Is the OP really referring to the seeds of the fruiting body as "legumes", or any part of the fruiting body, or any part of a plant that is a member of the leguminaceae?

• garden peas, mentioned by ScoopG (yes, it's a legume) -->fried rice
• tamarind (yes, another legume) --> to impart sourness/tanginess etc [and in Indian etc cooking, of course]
• pea shoots, long beans (mentioned already), etc --> stir fried as a veggie, etc

[paulj]

Are those used to round out a low-meat diet, in the way that soy, lentils and other 'daal' are use in India and the Americas?

[huiray]

Tamarind is used as a spice/condiment.

The others I mentioned (pea shoots etc) are eaten in their own right, not so much as for "rounding out" a meal. Chinese food is generally not heavy on meat and uses far, far more vegetables (and legumes and grains) and such in the cuisine than "Western" cuisine. Meats in Chinese and much of other East/SE/South Asian cuisine tend to be used traditionally more as accompaniments to vegetables/grains/legumes/non-meat in people's diets on a day-to-day basis rather than the focus of the diet as is the case in Western cuisine.

Banquets and special occasion meals do tend to have meat-heavy dishes.

[flies]

I'm principally looking for non-meat protein within chinese cuisine. I'm already familiar with tofu and seitan, and i was interested in beans and lentils, etc.

[chef chicklet]

As someone else mentioned, peanuts are legumes and used in quite a few recipes.
I have also found this recipe for Chinese Black Bean soup, considered very healthful on so many different levels.http://www.noobcook.com/chinese-black...

[scoopG]

There are plenty of legume recipes on Chinese websites. More legumes found in Chinese cuisines:

Both field and garden peas
Black soybeans
Lentils
Peanuts

[flies]

Thanks for all the replies, ppl.

scoopG: I can't really imagine cooking lentils in a chinese style, what would you do with them?

[ipsedixit]

Lentils are commonly used in soups (whole, not pureed)

[scoopG]

Hi flies - There are Ginger Lentils - where the lentils are cooked, left whole to cool and then mixed with minced ginger, soy sauce, sugar, vinegar and sesame oil.

Then there is Shredded Pork with Lentils, Braised Pork with Lentils and Lentil Stew Noodles.

Am trying to track down now the source of some bit of a story I read where Mao Zedong had to ban Lentil Noodles or Lentil Stew Noodles for a time at Yanan during WWII!

[ipsedixit]

Black bean paste (as a condiment and sauce)

Bean soup (usu. with pork spareribs, ear fungus, and daikon)

Fermented yellow beans (not tofu)

Sprouted yellow beans

[monku]

Snow peas are legumes.

[monku]

Chinese long beans

[K K]

Sichuan style "four seasons beans" 四季豆

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?/topic/86270-pictorial-sichuan-style-dry-fried-string-beans/

http://nookandpantry.blogspot.com/200...

[wattacetti]

These are the actual bean pods and not the individual beans which would constitute the eventual legume that the OP asked about.

[K K]

OK thanks for clarifying. There's also 蠶豆 which is the equivalent of broad or fava bean.

Stir fried with garlic and snow ear funghi (Chinese receipe, might want to use google translator)

http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/jw!.KnUk.WfEQXwEIilSDMDa5Kk.k8-/article?mid=28775

Or the Shanghainese style, a few recipes also in Chinese

http://home.meishichina.com/space-163708-do-blog-id-142268.html

http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/wens-blog/...

[Breezychow]

Aside from the usual soybean products, the Chinese also use fermented soy beans (known as "fermented black beans") in several forms. They add a lot of zing to stirfry dishes, & I try to have the basic dry salted/fermented form & the jarred paste on hand at all times. Both are available at Asian markets or online.

[paulj]

those a more seasonings than main constituents.

[wattacetti]

It's mostly soy. There are dishes made from mung beans and adzuki beans, though more for dessert. Peas are also used but I'm having a hard time thinking of any other legumes in widespread use.

[flies]

bean desserts are grody :)

are there soy dishes besides the plain/roasted edamame? I guess you could add soy beans to a stir fry like anything else...

[buttertart]

There's a Shanghainese dish of bean curd skin strips tossed with pickled vegetable (red-in-snow), edamame (mao dou in Chinese) and sometimes pork strips that I've eaten any number of times but don't have a recipe for. Very savory.

[Breezychow]

Oooh - I disagree. Red Bean ice cream & sweetened red-bean-paste-filled "moon" cakes are delicious.

[MinkeyMonkey]

+1
I love, love, love red bean ice cream!

And, there are tons of mochi styled cakes filled with different kinds of bean pastes that are delicious. I'd post the names if I knew them. I buy them packaged at the Asian market.

[wattacetti]

There is a simmered soybean and there are of course products made out of soybean which become all sorts of other things.