EASY & DELICIOUS
One of the Filipino food staples that’s incredibly cheap is Munggo Beans, also known as Mung Beans in China. This dish is very popular on the Filipino table and it’s healthy. A pot of Munggo beans can feed an army and it’s best eaten the next day for its flavor.
Ginisang Munggo is often served during the Fridays of Lent to help Catholics abstain from eating meat. We often pair this dish with fried salted Galunggong fish or Blue Mackerel Scads.
Traditionally we would add ampalaya or Bitter Melon to this recipe although I often refrain from including it because not everyone in my household likes Bitter Melon.
You can add Bitter Melon by deseeding it and slicing it to bite size pieces. Make sure that you soak the Bitter Melon in salted cold water for at least an hour to take some of the bitter taste off.
Pork Cracklings is another ingredient that you can add with this recipe, but my kids like their pork crackling crunchy. So I serve the cracklings on the side instead.
This is my Canadian version of Ginisang Munggo. This is just the basic way of making it if you have no access to a Filipino or Asian store to grab the original ingredients required for this recipe. Have fun cooking in the kitchen. Mabuhay!!
Ingredients:
- 1 cup Munggo Beans
- 2 cups Chicken Broth
- 1 cup Water
- 1 large quartered Tomato
- 1 medium quartered Onion
- 3 cloves minced Garlic
- 4 tbsp. Fish Sauce or Patis
- 1 bunch fresh Spinach or Ampalaya Leaves
- 1 bag frozen Shrimps
- 1 half a bag crushed Pork Cracklings or Chicharon (Optional)
- 1 medium sized Bitter Melon (seeded and soaked in salted water) (Optional)
- 3 tbsp. Cooking Oil
Directions:
- Soak the Munggo Beans in water for 8 hours or overnight to soften it.
- Heat oil in sauce pan at medium high heat. Add onions and garlic. Sauté for about a minute until onions are soft. Add tomatoes and sauté’ for 5 minutes. Squish the tomato meat as you sauté’. Add the frozen shrimps and fish sauce. Cook until the shrimps are orange in color. Add crushed Pork Cracklings (optional) and Bitter Melon (optional). Sauté for another 5 minutes.
- Drain the water off the Munggo Beans. Add the beans, chicken broth and water in the sauce pan and let it simmer covered for 30 minutes. Add another half a cup of water if sauce is too thick for your liking.
- Add the spinach leaves and let it wilt for 5 minutes. Cover, turn off heat and let it stand for 15 minutes before serving with fresh steam rice.
Enjoy!
