I’ve only ever encountered Mung beans as the ubiquitous ‘bean-shoot’ in Asian dishes, and have never seen them used in any other capacity.
Do they HAVE any other function? Are they used as a whole bean for human or animal consumption?
I have a great receipe for Thai beef salad that uses cellophane noodles. Delicious.
Cellophane noodles are made from mung beans.
I keep a big container of mung beans in the fridge for healthy snacking… i LOVE the little things 
Well, if you boil them in water, with suger to taste, (maybe add some sago) and chill it afterwards, you get a pretty nice dessert.
As for other uses… umm… I’ll think about it. I’m pretty sure the paste is used in some traditional confectionery fillings. You might also want to search for “green beans” instead of “mung beans”, I believe that they are also known as “green beans” in certain parts of the world… Well, in Singapore, at least. 
Boil mung beans and make a curry with them. That’s what my mum does. And my grandmother used to use them as a filling for samosas
They are most often consumed as bean sprouts, but they are quite similar to Aduki Beans (AKA Adzuki or Azuki), which can be used in similar ways.
Well, there ya go.
You learn summat new every day here on the SDMB.
Mung bean thread, also known as cellophane noodles, also known as long rice. Visit Hawaii and you’ll probaby find restaurants that serve chicken or beef long rice, or at least meet locals who know recipes.
Basically, you soak the bean thread in warm water for about 15 minutes. Brown some ground beef or chicken pieces, season with Hawaiian salt, pepper, and shoyu, and then add the drained thread. Soaking makes it flexible, and once it’s fully cooked it’s softer than angel hair pasta. Good stuff.
Somewhere at home I’ve got a yummy recipe for a Turkmen mung bean dish with lots of onions and potatoes, and a few other things which are escaping me at the moment. So yes.
Are they sharing recipes? Please tell me yes.
Yes they are. My family doesn’t actually keep recipes a secret. I’ll have to dig them out/dredge my or my mother’s memory for them, to post them though.
Well, to my family “recipe” is kind of an abstract construct, especially to my grandmother. Once I asked her for her noodle kugel recipe, and she dictated about 4 different ones to me before each time she gave up as we almost reached the end of the recipe, saying, “No, wait a minute, that’s not the one I use.” Finally she found the one she uses, and as I finished scribbling, I said “but wait, this isn’t right. Where are the apples? The cinnamon? The raisins?” Her response: “Well, you know all that already, so why should I bother putting it in the recipe?”
(:sigh:: How many apples? What kind? Why no note on the ability to substitute dried apricots, or even diced peaches in season, for the apples? These things are important for the preservation of ethnic cultures, people!)
P.S. If you’ve never experienced lukshen (noodle) kugel, I’ll introduce you the next time you and I are in reasonably close proximity to a kitchen. Unlike rugelach, it doesn’t travel well.
That sounds like me trying to get a recipe out of my mother.
Anyway, have remembered the mung bean curry recipe:
Mung Bean Curry
A generous helping of mung beans
A small handful of black mustard seeds
About a tablespoon or so of vegetable oil
Two tablespoons of tomato puree
A healthy pinch of tumeric
Curry powder - about a tablespoon. Curry powder= powdered cumin and corriander seeds, in roughly equal quantaties, known in Indian food stores as Dhaana Jeera.
A medium-ish potato, peeled and cut into eighths
Salt, pepper, and chilli to taste
Boil the mung beans till they’re almost cooked.
In a pan, heat the oil, and to the hot oil, add the mustard seeds and let them ‘pop’. Then, add the tomato puree, curry powder, tumeric, and chilli, and mix well. Add the potatoes, and let them cook for about 5 minutes. Add the mung beans, about a cup of water or vegetable stock, mix well, and cook until the potatoes are done.
[ba]Angua,** you must be turning into your mom. Could you give a slightly more precise idea of what’s a “generous helping” of mung beans? Are we talking a cupful? A liter? A couple of handfuls? (I’ve still got the bagful left over from trying the Turkmen recipe.)
:eek: I am turning into my mother!
Er, I think we’re talking a couple of handfuls per person. I just make as much as “looks right”
As was mentioned above, they can be used in confectionery. A bubble tea place I used to frequent sold mung bean (and red bean as well) milkshakes, which were quite good, if a bit lumpy.
As I understand it, mung (moong) beans are quick to cook and easy to digest (less gas-producing than most beans), making them a staple in Indian cooking. They often serve as simplified food for when you’re young, old, or sick (imagine cream of wheat or oatmeal). They are quite widely sold in dried form at bulk food stores here in the Bay Area. I have also seen West African recipes that utilize mung beans, but I’m not sure how widely they are eaten in those cultures.
And they aren’t just for sprouts in Chinese food. They are sometimes sweetened and used as filling in dim sum.