KULINARYA FAVORITES: Monggo Guisado
Favorite online recipes from Kulinarya (A Guide Book to Philippine Cuisine)
MONGGO GUISADO
Mung Bean Stew
In more pious times, every Friday throughout the year was a day of abstinence from meat. "Friday inevitably brought to the table monggo guisado paired with paksiw na isda." [Guilda Cordero Fernando, "Good Housekeeping in Pagsanjan, Laguna," in Philippine Food and Life]
Ingredients:
4 cloves of garlic
1 onion
100g fresh shrimps
6 small freshly smoked fish (tinapa)
1 bunch or 100g spinach or young bitter gourd (ampalaya) leaves
3 pcs tomatoes
250g green mung beans (monggo)
4 cups of water
3 tbsp oil
1 tbsp of shrimp paste (bagoong alamang)
Salt and pepper to taste
*100g pork crackling (chicharon) for topping (optional)
Preparation:
1. Crush, peel, and mince garlic.
2. Peel and chop onion.
3. Peel and devein shrimps. Reserve the heads and shell trimmings to make shrimp stock to add flavor.
4. Debone and flake the smoked fish to make 1/2 cup
5. Remove stem of spinach or young bitter gourd leaves. Discard stems.
Cooking:
1. Place mung beans and water in a pot and boil under tender. Add more water if needed. As the mung beans are cooking the outer coverings will shed and float. Discard these if desired. Set mung beans in its liquid aside.
2. In a preheated deep pan, add oil. Sauté onion and garlic until translucent, then add tomatoes. Add the shrimp paste and fresh shrimps.
3. Pour in the cooked mung beans, its liquid and the shrimp stock. Simmer for 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Add the smoked fish flakes and mix.
Just before serving,
Add the bitter gourd or spinach leaves. Stir once then remove from the heat.
Serving suggestion
Serve very hot in a serving or individual bowl. Sprinkle with crushed pork crackling, if desired.