Liang Fen (Mung Bean Jelly Noodles) 凉粉

Liang Fen 凉粉 is a simple dish of cold slippery noodles made out of mung bean starch. It’s often dressed in a tangy garlicky chilli sauce that clings onto the jelly noodles. It’s often enjoyed as a snack or as part of a quick lunch as it’s light and refreshing and does not fill you up like regular noodles.

You can found street vendors and restaurants selling small bowls of Liang Fen everywhere in Sichuan province. Like my Sichuan cold noodles - Liang Mian, Liang Fen is especially popular to eat in the summer and warm months but the dish and its various cousins are eaten throughout the year.

What does Liang Fen taste like?

As you can image, the jelly noodles themselves have not much in the way of flavour. It does have an amazing texture though, it’s smooth and soft, it melts quickly in your mouth but a good liang fen also has certain amount of elasticity. The sauce that is traditionally served with mung bean Liang Fen is savoury, spicy and sour. 

Various types of Liang Fen

While I’m sharing the way to make the most popular white Liang Fen 白凉粉, which as mentioned is made out of mung bean starch, there are other variations of jelly like starch noodles. For example, yellow liang fen 黄凉粉 is made with a mix of white and yellow pea starch. While the white version is often shredded into long strands of noodles with the special grater, the yellow version is normally served cut into thick stripes. And the dressing is different too! White Liang Fen noodles are served with a tangy and spicy light dressing while the yellow version comes with a more robust sauce that incorporates the use of fermented black beans. One main similarity is that both are served cold.

Meanwhile, rice Liang Fen 米凉粉 is served warm! As the name suggests, this starch noodle is made with rice flour and pickling ash. Not as well know as the white Liang Fen but I love it, especially cooked hot pot style!

How to cut the noodles

When you make Liang Fen, it’ll initially come out in a satisfying block of smooth jello. You can cut it however you want with a knife but for the best way to maximize the enjoyment of the texture of theses mung bean jelly noodles, you’ll want use a special scraper to shred long, thick strands of noodles with. This is not just for looks, it really makes a difference in how the dressing clings onto each noodle to give you that satisfying slurp.

I was able to find a special scraper designed for Liang Fen on the Chinese app Temu or Amazon for a really cheap price. But I do understand if you don’t want to buy a tool just for this, in which case, I would suggest using a thick cut cheese grater instead. It’ll take a bit of trial and error to get that desired long strand but it’s also a lot of fun.

Storage

While Liang Fen is easy to make, it can be difficult to store. By that I mean, when you eat it on the day you made it, the texture is just right, but as soon as you put the jelly into the fridge for keeping overnight, the texture become brittle. To combat this, I have a couple of suggestions.

1. Eat it all on the same day  🙂
2. Store in the leftovers in the fridge un-shredded and cut the jelly into cubes and cook it with sauces in a stir fry fashion.