one filipino dish a week

Yay mongos! T and I rejoice every time we have it. It’s our favorite. I’ve always liked mongos growing up. Unlike my love - hate - love cycle relationship with eggplant, mongos has always stayed true. What is mongos? Well it’s apparently something that originated in India -thanks wikipedia. These are small beans green in color that makes lovely soups! I do associate mongos with lent because it is what we ate when I was growing during the lent season when no meat is allowed on Fridays. It’s perfect over white rice (but what isn’t?). Trust me Filipinos eat everything with white rice. I think the texture really has a lot to do with the character of the dish. True to most Filipino dishes there’s a few variations. I highlighted some common variations.

1 pack of mung beans
onion
garlic
salt & pepper to taste
chicken breast diced or shrimps or pork or fish (practically anything - but I skipped because I wanted vegetarian)

optional items:
coconut milk
spinach (or kalamungay is more traditional)

1. Put the mung beans in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium and simmer until beans are soft.
2. Set the beans in a bowl. In the same pot saute the garlic and onion in oil. If using meat this would be a good time to include chicken and pork
3. Put back the beans when the onions and garlic are fragrant.
4. Add some water to the desired consistency (more soupy the better). If using coconut milk add at this point. Simmer to mix ingredients.
5. Add in the spinach mix in for about a minute then turn off heat.
6. Serve over rice. Enjoy!