Mung bean soup is a dish i grew up eating — it is my favorite gulay dish as i pour it over rice and devour it quickly. I had to learn how to cook munggo guisado or ginisang monggo because I want my kids to love it too. It is nutritious and cheap — a mainstay in our list of under P100 ulam ideas!

I was wrong though when I thought that this dish is really easy to cook. Apparently it has a lot of prep work and there is no going around all the boiling and pre soaking that needs to be done to make the beans tender, and soup as thick as I want it to be. Anyway, here’s our newbie mama’s guide recipe for —

Ingredients:

Half a pack of monggo beans

Salt for cleaning the monggo beans

Water for soaking monggo beans

1 medium sized onions, chopped

2 cloves of garlic chopped

1-2 medium tomatoes chopped

Choice of sahog — flaked fish, shrimps, or sliced pork (i use menudo cut)

A bunch of your choice of greens — malunggay, dahon ng sili, or talbos ng ampalaya (talbos ng ampalaya is our favorite but we only have dried malunggay as of cooking time so we used a handful of that)

Patis to season for adult consumption

OPTIONAL: Chicharon

Procedure in cooking ginisang munggo:

1. Wash munggo beans in salt and water (as if you are washing uncooked rice or bigas but this time you use salt as well). Wash until the water is clear in color, which is usually after three washes. I do not do this before but after an aunt mentioned that munggo should be clwaned and washed well because some are being dried out on the road, i started doing this, and you will be surprised to see very small pebbles, small dried twigs etc).

2. Put the washed mongo beans in a bowl and soak it in water. Add enough water to cover plus about an inch more. Leave to soak overnight. This process helps in making the munggo easier to cook and softer.

3. The next day, wash the soaked munggo and boil in a pot in just enough water. Adding more as needed once you start simmering it. This procedure may take about 40 to 50 minutes. Do note be tempted to cook the beans in a pressure cooker to skip steps two and three because the beans would lose its skins and the texture will be a bit weird.

4. Once the monggo starts to thicken and you can mash the monggo with the back of a spoon, then that means you can already start the quick cooking process.

5. Saute onion, garlic and tomatoes. Mash the tomatoes and make sure it is cooked well. Add in your choice of pangsahog (pork, shrimp or fish).

6. Once the sahog is cooked, add in the munggo, plus half a cup of water. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 5 minutes.

7. Add in your choice of leafy greens. Cover the pot and simmer for about 3 minutes more.

8. AT THIS POINT YOU CAN ALREADY GET AN UNSEASONED PORTION FOR YOUR BABY OR TODDLER.

9. Season to taste for adult consumption. Top with chicharon or shrimp and serve with rice!

So there you have it, easy ginisang munggo recipe that is healthy, affordable and yummy! For more budget ulam ideas and filipino meal plans please check out the meals and recipes section of our website, or browse our FB album of under P100 meal ideas.

Hope you can also follow us on Instagram and Pinterest where we regularly post family meal recipes and toddler and baby food ideas.

Here is how I served the dish to my toddler and baby:

Hope you can try this version of monggo gisado and tell us about it.