Munggo Guisado for Kulinarya Cooking Club

Thank you to Erika of Ivory Hut for choosing vegetables for our Kulinary Cooking Club theme this month. Many choices came up and I wanted to cook them all, from the classic Pinakbet (Filipino Vegetable Stew) to Adobong Sitaw, my favorite way of preparing string beans to Tortang Talong (Eggplant Omelet), a simple two-ingredient dish that my kids adore.

So cook I did but one major problem: no pictures! One dish was eaten up right away so there were no leftovers for a pictorial. For the other dish, I made sure to make plenty and had set it aside but come to find out the camera had no battery! By the time I got around to getting batteries, sadly the dish was all eaten. The last dish I just completely forgot to take pictures. I know, bad food blogger! ;)

So down the wire, last night I thought of something simple I can prepare today. Luckily, I have most of the ingredients I needed, plus I got to cook something perfect on this cold, rainy day: Munggo Guisado, a soup made of mung beans. This dish comes about fairly quick since the beans are so small, they only take minutes to boil. A quick saute of garlic, onions and tomatoes (the trinity of Filipino cooking) along with shrimp makes this a quick meal.

I remember having to pick malunggay (moringa) leaves off one by one and adding them at the end of cooking. I have not seen any but found spinach as a good substitute. Now thinking arugula would be great as well.

I've also topped my dish with chicharon (pork cracklings) which my family always does when we eat Munggo Guisado. When I mentioned this to my husband, he went out in the rain to get some. :)  This is totally optional and usually omitted during Lent when we served this on meatless Fridays. Tinapa (smoked fish), or even just fried fish goes great with this. Also, Paksiw na Bangus (Milkfish stewed in Vinegar) is my parent's favorite to eat with this. I have not eaten that in years so of course, now I'm craving it! :)


Munggo Guisado
(makes 6-8 servings)

2 cups dried mung beans
1 lb. shrimp (with heads) peeled & deveined, (head & peels reserved)
2 TBSP vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
1 TBSP bagoong alamang (shrimp paste)
1 bunch spinach (or arugula)
chicharon (optional)

Pick through the mung beans for debris, rinse in water and place in pot. Fill to about an inch of water and let it boil over high heat. Once it boils, lower heat and let it simmer until beans are tender, 20-25 minutes. Stir occasionally and add water as needed.

Once beans are boiling, make shrimp stock. Place reserved shrimp trimmings in small pot and add 2 cups of water. Let it boil then simmer for about 10-15 minutes. Strain through a fine sieve and reserve broth.

In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook quickly until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add onions and cook 2-3 minutes until soft and translucent, do not brown. Add tomatoes and continue to cook, smashing them to give off the juice. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until sauce thickens.

Add the bagoong and stir a few seconds until it is fragrant ;) Then add the shrimp, stirring to get the shrimp coated with the tomato mixture. A soon as the shrimp is starting to turn pink and opaque, pour in the boiled mung beans and shrimp stock. Turn heat up high and let it boil quickly.

Once it boil, turn off heat and add the spinach and stir. There will be enough heat to wilt spinach (also prevents  overcooking). Serve hot.

Please visit my fellow Kulinarya members for their Vegetables creations:

Kath - http://www.acupcakeortwo.com/
Trisha - http://sugarlace.com/
Trissa - http://trissalicious.com/
Olive - http://www.latestrecipes.net/
Ninette - http://bigboldbeautifulfood.blogspot.com/
Peach- http://www.thepeachkitchen.com/
Althea- http://www.busogsarap.com/
Asha - http://forkspoonnknife.blogspot.com/
Malou - http://www.skiptomalou.net/
Cherrie - http://sweetcherriepie.blogspot.com/
Acdee - http://acdee.blogspot.com/
Valerie - http://www.acanadianfoodie.com/
Sheryl - http://crispywaffle.com/
Divina - http://www.sense-serendipity.com/
Anna - http://www.anniesfoodjournal.blogspot.com/
Dahlia - http://www.energychef.blogspot.com/
Joy - http://joyjoycreativeoutlet.blogspot.com/
Maribel - http://www.foodgeek.webs.com/
Tressa
Jen - http://www.jen-at-work.blogspot.com/
Pia - http://bisayajudkaayo.blogspot.com/
Malaka - http://thegrandinternational.com/.
Mimi - http://lapinchecocinera.blogspot.com/
Erika - http://ivoryhut.com/
Kat - http://www.caterersearch.com/tabletalk/default.aspx
Lala - http://thislittlepiggywenttothemarket.blogspot.com/
Selfie - http://eats.sefiebee.com/
Connie Veneracion - http://homecookingrocks.com/
Oggi - http://oggi-icandothat.blogspot.com/
Katrina Kostik - http://lardonmyfrench.blogspot.com/
Rochelle Ryan - http://www.whydiss.blogspot.com/
Marica - http://cuppycreme.blogspot.com/
Diona - http://titaflips.blogspot.com/
Rowena - http://saraplicious.blogspot.com/