Mung bean miniature fruits

Seedless watermelon, anyone ?

We had 'guess the fruit' game before dessert

I saw this in a library book and thought there is no reason not to try it : hubby is on leave and he can provide all the elbow grease I need, photography services and washing up. I sure know how to make his leave well spent !

In my wildest dream, I had no idea it should be such a long and difficult process - from mashing, molding, painting and glazing. Hubby had to abandon his power nap to save his dessert because I was making bulbous fruits just to use up the bean paste quickly.

This project requires artistry and dexterity , both of which we lacked. We ended up painting 'guess what fruit this is' and cut short our work by making 'seedless watermelons'. Hubby's brilliant suggestion at making cross section of fruits backfired when I demanded he paint the seeds of a mung bean kiwi. We had no idea what to make of the deseeded cross section of an avocado because we couldn't do the hollow in the center.

I am not giving these to my neighbors this time round. They contain too much saliva from our laughter and the fruits are industry grade - super big !!

It was tiring but tremendous fun. We were like 2 kindergarten kids trying to bluff our way through art class. So even though there is much to be desired from the looks, the madness in the kitchen is sure to last long after we have digested them.

Makes , er, quite a number of fruits, depending on how you size them. Sorry !

If the fuits are oddly shaped, that's because they are organic !

Bean paste :

250 g mung bean, hulled

100g sugar

180g coconut milk

Long bbq sticks

Coloring :

Assorted colors diluted with 3 times the amount of water by volume

Agar coat :

13g agar

440g water

1 T sugar

Soak beans overnight. Steam beans until thoroughly soft. Mash well ( I / hubby used a ladle to break the bans over a fine sieve and then switched to  mortar sticks to pulverize the broken beans. Needs lots of patience )

Mix sugar and coconut milk over low heat, stir until dissolved. Add mashed mung bean and stir until well combined. Turn off heat when bean paste is fairly dry.

Make shapes of fruits and paint with diluted colors. Let dry, about 30 minutes.

The following should be done at the very last when the 'fruits' are ready for glazing . To glaze the 'fruit', boil agar and sugar in water until dissolved. Skewer the fruit onto stick and dip in the warm agar to glaze the 'fruit'. Keep heat on at the lowest power to prevent agar from  congealing.

Dry on a cup and chill before eating.