Harusame (mung bean vermicelli)

Harusame (vermicelles de haricot mungo)

What it is

Harusame means spring rain, for threads fine and clear enough to look like it. The name travelled further than the recipe: Chinese-made harusame is mung bean starch and holds firm for hours in broth, while much of what is made in Japan is potato and sweet potato starch and softens far sooner — the packet tells you which you have.

In the kitchen

Do not boil them. Soak off the heat in hot water for five to eight minutes, then drain and cut; at a rolling boil the mung bean threads turn to mush and will not come back.

Goes with

Cucumber Wood ear Rice vinegar Toasted sesame oil Pork Fish sauce

Same species

Adzuki bean Black-eyed pea Mung bean Urad dal Yardlong bean

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