Ginisang Monggo or Mung Beans Soup is a dish known to the Filipino’s as a poor mans dish, but from what I can tell you there is nothing poor about it. It is rich and hearty in flavor and just to kick it up another notch (as Emeril Lagasi would say) you can add shredded smoked fish and some shrimp and you will surely have a killer dish. Serve it with freshly smoked Tinapa and steamed white rice and your family will have a wonderful meal together.
Ingredients:
1 Cup of monggo beans (mung beans)
½ Cup of malunggay leaves
8 Cups of water
3 Tbs. Cooking oil
3 Tbs. Soy sauce
3 Cloves of garlic – smashed
1 Small onion – sliced thinly
1 Small tomato – diced
1 Tsp. MSG
½ Tsp. ground black pepper
Pinch of salt to taste
¼ Lb. Pork belly cut into small pieces
¼ Lb. Shrimp peeled and deveined
2 Pieces medium sized Tinapa (shredded)
Directions:
Rinse monggo beans thoroughly, place in a casserole dish, and boil in 8 cups of water on medium low heat for about 45 minutes. Remove the beans and set aside. In the same casserole dish add oil and saute garlic until golden brown. Next add the onions and cook them until they hit the shiny stage. Add pork belly, soy sauce, and tomatoes. Cover and let it cook for 3 minutes. Then you can add the shrimp and let it cook for another 2 minutes. Add the monggo beans and malunggay leaves (horseradish leaves) along with the shredded Tinapa, ground black pepper, salt, and msg. Cover it and let it simmer for an additional 15 minutes on medium low heat. Stir it every 5 minutes to avoid scorching. Taste it and add salt and pepper if needed. Serve with rice and Tinapa and enjoy your meal.
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Mmm This is one of my favorite dishes. I am so happy you post this. Thank you!
I love the monggo ginisa. Now i am in Germany, the first thing that i did is ti look for an asian shop and have my monggo beans with me. I got it here and your recipe helps me the most. Keep it up!
i know how to cook monggo, but your recipe has additional twists, i like it.
Mmmmmm…. Perfect!Ggot the perfect monggo dish… like it a lot… Sayang ala tinapa dito…
Mabuhay ka Pilipinas!
Good morning kabayan Im here in Dubai for 3 and a half years and really you will missed to eat filipino food. I tried your monggo ginisa recipe and I loved it. TNX !!!
I loved your monggo ginisa recipe and I really missed Filipino Foods Im here in Dubai for 3 and a half yrs.
Superb…
You’re the best..
Nanit gyud!
Thank you for the post! it helped me:) from Los Angeles CA.
i love munggo guisado the last time i ate this was a year ago, ty for posting
Yum!
When you say “Remove the beans and set aside.” do you mean to drain them, or do I just put the liquid and all together in a separate container?
Leah,
No, Do not drain the water. Just set it aside until it calls for it later on. Defending on how high your heat is, you actually might have to add a little bit of water to it. I like mine on a soupy side rather than being thick. Good luck on your cooking.
~Robert
Wow! Tingin ko pa lang sa picture, natatakam na ako! I’m pregnant now, and I am craving for ginisang munggo. My mouth even watered seeing tinapa with it. Aaaawwwww… This is just so perfect. I will cook this on Friday. ^^
BTW, I dunno why Filipinos usually cook this every Friday. Do you have any ideas? Just curious. 🙂
hi robert,
i really love your blog, and it makes me hungry seeing all the pictures of my favorite filipino dishes. Just wanna know where can we buy the malunggay leaves you used? I’m in the St. Louis, Illinois area.
Hi Lani,
You can buy the malunggay leaves from Global Food Market in Kirkwood or Jay International on Grand Boulevard if you’re in St. Louis area. They are in the frozen section they call it “HORSERADISH LEAVES”…
Cheers,
Robert Colinares
tnx mr robert for posting this recipe, this has been a big help to me since I don’t really have the talent in cooking. And i love this page because you have organized everything unlike of the other recipe page some of them actually annoyed me, tnx again and God bless.
You’re welcome Pam, I am glad you like my blog and find it organized. I have a lot of simple recipe here, try all of them as you please when you feel like cooking something. 🙂
Cheers,
Robert Colinares
I like your mongo recipe looks so yummy and with a different twist of combining pork and tinapa. We can also add kakang gata to our mongo (just what my Nanay used to do when she was still alive) to make it creamier. What do you think, Robert?
Hi Irene,
You know what they say anything with coconut milk or creme taste good. To be honest with you I never had it with coconut milk before or creme for that matter. I assume when you said kakang gata you meant coconut creme? I will have to try it sometimes and see what it taste like. Anyway, thank you for your input and god bless!
Cheers,
Robert Colinares
try adding ampalaya leaves instead of malongay it taste yummy!!!
Hi Robert! I am a huge munggo lover, and looking at your recipe and seeing the “naked” shrimp here, I think it would be a good idea to boil the shrimp heads in a bit of water until they’re cooked and then mash/press them for the “juice,” and then add that “juice” and the water is was boiled in towards the end for the extra flavor – just toss out the pressed heads after.
Usually, we don’t cook ours with shrimp, but what we do is use shrimp cubes (the kind you use for “stock”), but since you already have your shrimp there and the heads are going to waste, it might be a great idea to use them for the flavor, the same way you would for Pinoy chop suey. That way, you can also minimize (or outright remove) the MSG from the recipe, since shrimp is already very rich in the “umami” flavor. I’ll try that out next time. Cheers!
Hi! Looneyticks,
Yes it will be flavorful if you add shrimp juice to it, but it is high in cholesterol. I guess it will be okay if you eat this once in a while or use a minimal amount of it.
– Ravello.
Hi! Robert Colinares,
I like your website. Very informative and organize. Nice pictures, clear videos, easy-to-follow instructions. Very good recipes/flavor. I also like reading the comments and background info on the food itself.
Take care, god bless you and your family. – Ravello.
Ooo I’ve never tried this with shrimp! yumm. I like to cook the pork belly or bacon first, then cook the garlic, onions and tomato in the bacon fat rendered from it. Then I add the already boiled monggo beans, add some water or broth THEN I add gata and a little bit of tomato paste. I can’t seem to find malunggay here in New York city maybe i should try some spinach?
Thanks for this recipe!
Thank you for posting this recipe! I will try it this week. So easy for my lunch at work… I am from Christchurch, New Zealand, thanks again…
Ginisang Munggo and Pancit Guisado are the two favorites of Dr. Jose P Rizal and so do I.
Shrimp or with tinapa alone coupled with chicaron and dahon ng ampalaya will make this dish palatable. My late mother usually serves it on a Friday.
This is so nice!
Thank you for this.I love shrimp. But never cooked munggo with it.
So this is what I’ll do next.
Thank you!
Debbie
Ahhh, balatong. This is one of those dishes where you can see and taste regional differences. When preparing this dish at home, my family was adamant bout removing the hull from the bean. This was the Nothern (Illocano) way. A cousin who grew up in Manila commented that the munngo prepared in Manila included both the hull and bean and was more soupy. Either way, I’ll take a bowl with a heaping of steaming white rice on a cold rainy day. Its a taste that I grew up to appreciate as opposed to my childhood where I found the assertive bawang to much. Nowadays I prepare balatong with conventional garlic and swapping out the mullungay with spinach. Ironically the Indians from the southern part of India have sambar which shares the same stewed mung bean prepartion with the mullungay fruit, but minus the shrimp and pork.