Mung Bean Starch

White dried mung beans, their green skins removed, are ground into a starch that, like all Chinese starches, is referred to equally as a powder and a flour. This is the starch that was in our kitchen when I was a child, and it is the starch I was most familiar with when cooking in China. What makes it particularly desirable is its capacity to impart a glistening finish to whatever food to which it is added. Only in recent years has mung bean starch become widely available in Chinese markets. I use it as I do cornstarch, to thicken sauces and to give them body, to marinate meats, and to coat foods before frying. Sauces made with cornstarch are typically thinner and have less body than those made with mung bean starch.