I was inspired br Arelene Descargar's Facebok
entry for her Homemade balatong (mung bean soup) and also by Connie Veneracion's version of mung beans
called Stewed monggo (mung beans) with coconut cream
at Pinoy Cook website.
I cooked the dish for lunch today to revisit this Filipino staple dish.
I didn't use Coconut Milk as I don't have Coconut Milk stocked in my Pantry.
Here's my take on the Dish:
Serving: 5
Tools needed:
1. Blender
2. Deep Pot
Ingredients:
2 tbsp. of vegetable or cooking oil
1.5 cups of of green mung beans
5 cups wanter
1/2 cup shrimp broth
2 medium tomatoes diced
2 Slices of thick Pork Chops cut into small cubes.
2 cups of shrimps, shelled and deveined
2 tablespoons of minced garlic
1 white onion, chopped
1 bitter melon (ampalaya) cored, deseeded and cut into cubes
fish sauce or bagoong to taste ( I don't tolerate high salt in my diet so I used it sparingly)
Salt to taste
Ground black pepper, to taste
A bunch of spinach , washed . You can also use Ampalaya leaves or any green leafy vegetables
Cilantro leaves for garnish
Cooking Procedure:
1. Wash Green Mung beans in water.
2. In a covered deep pot, place water and mung beans. Use medium heat to bring it to boil.
3. Season with salt.
4. When the mung beans are soft, pour beans and its broth
into a blender and pulse until the beans get a coarse puree consistentcy.
5. Meanwhile in a deep pan over medium heat, saute garlic in oil until lightly browned.
Add onions, tomato, until soft.
6. Add pork, shrimp, bitter melon, shrimp broth, fish sauce to taste. Simmer for 5 to 8 minutes.
7.Add mung beans with its liquid and continue to simmer for another 10 - 15 minutes. Stir the
bottom of the pot at regular intervals to prevent the mung beans fromm burnning at the bottom of the pan.
8. Turn off the heat, add the spinach leaves and cover pot for 1 minute.
9. Transfer the Soup in indivual bowls. Garnish with Cilantro.
10. Serve hot with rice.
