Ginisang Monggo with Dried Alamang

Ginisang Monggo with Dried Alamang is a homey, filling traditional Filipino dish, made even more tasty with the complex salty, umami, and sweet taste of dried shrimp (alamang). A monggo dish made with garlic, onions, dried small shrimps, tomatoes, pepper, fish sauce, pork cubes, chillies, topped with crunchy chicharon. Who wouldn’t want to give it a try?

Ginisang Monggo with Dried Alamang Recipe :

Ingredients

• 1 cup mung beans (monggo)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ cup dried small shrimps (alamang)
• 3 medium tomatoes, chopped
• Black pepper to taste
• Fish sauce to taste
• 1 piece pork broth-cube
• 2 cups water
• 1 bunch chili leaves
• Chicharon for garnish
• Oil for sauteing
• Water for boiling

Steps:

1. In a pot, add in washed mung beans, pour in enough water to cover the beans. Bring to a boil and simmer till mushy. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in a pan, saute onions before cooking the garlic until aromatic. Add in the dried small shrimps, and saute till these turn golden brown. 
3. Add in the tomatoes and mix till soft and easy to crush. Add in the cooked & strained mung beans, black pepper, fish sauce, and pork cube. Mix well before pouring in 2 cups of water. Bring to a simmer.
4. Once it simmers, place in chili leaves, cook till these wilt. Add chicharon on top before serving.

What is Monggo or Mung Beans?

Munggo or Mung beans are one of the most common ingredients found in FIlipino cooking. Usually found in savory stews with or without meats like pork bits, shrimp, rarely meat, some shredded fish, dried fish or other dried seafoods, some modern versions use tofu or eggs as a meat replacement. While it usually comes out a bit muddy in color from the softened or crushed mung beans, some varieties of this dish also include adding coconut milk to make the dish creamier and subtle sweet and aromatic. In other versions, this is turned into a dessert by mixing glutinous rice with mung beans and some sugar almost like a very filling sweet rice gruel dessert. Further information about these small but delightfully filling and versatile beans here: “What is Monggo” (Mung Beans) from Yummy Kitchen.

How to make this Ginisang Monggo with Alamang dish?

This dish, also called “Ginisang Monggo with Dried Shrimp” is a simple but flavor packed dish made of mung beans washed and strained before playing it in a pot with enough water to simmer, cooking till it’s soft, or if you’d like it very mushy. Set aside while you make the main base where all the flavor will come from. Aromatics such as garlic and onions are sauteed till soft and aromatic. After, the ‘alamang’ or dried shrimps are added then tossed around till it turns from light brown to a darker almost golden brown color. The tomatoes are then added and cooked till these are easy to crush, then the cooked then strained mung beans, some black pepper, fish sauce to taste adding half a tablespoon before adding more after mixing everything together, and a pork broth cube. After mixing this well, pour in some of the water to create the broth then bring this into a simmer. Once simmering add in the chili leaves for a hint of spice, cooking these till it wilts before topping with chicharon for extra flavor and texture. You can also mix these before serving, then topping each place with crushed chicharon to make it look more appealing.

Questions

• Ginisang Monggo with Dried Alamang calories ?

While these are healthy and filling, these can have around 250 or more calories.

• No Alamang (small dried fish) try these instead :
  • Use other dried fishes like anchovies to make “Ginisang Monggo with Dried Fish” or specifically “Ginisang Monggo with Dilis (dried anchovies)” as an alternative. Both have almost the same salty umami taste. 
  • Or use ‘Daing’ for “Ginisang monggo with Daing”  which is also a sun dried fish that’s quite salty, but it is bigger and needs to be shredded before being added into the dish.
  • Use shrimp paste instead for easy access, you can find this in almost any Asian grocery store or local groceries in Asia.

• Additional ingredients

While chili leaves are added for a slight spice and fiber, you can also add more leafy veggies if you’d like a more fiber rich dish. Try adding malunggay (moringa leaves), spinach or ‘alugbati’ to make “Ginisang Monggo with Alugbati”, or cabbage. Similarly add chillies at the end of the simmering process for more spice.

Other Yummy Mung bean (Monggo) Recipes!

• Monggo with Gata (a creamy mung bean soup made with coconut milk)
• Ginisang Monggo (Mung Bean Soup, with pork bits)

Ginisang Monggo with Dried Alamang Resipi: (Tagalog version)

Mga Sangkap :

• 1 tasa monggo
• 1 sibuyas, tinadtad
• 4 butil ng bawang, tinadtad
• ½ tasa tuyong alamang
• 3 kamatis, hiniwa ng pa apat o higit pa
• Paminta panlasa
• Patis panlasa
• 1 piraso pork broth-cube
• 2 tasa tubig
• 1 tangas dahon ng sili
• Chicharon pang dekorasyon
• Mantika pangluto
• Tubig pangkulo

Paano Lutuin :

1. Sa palayak, ilagay ang hinigasan na monggo at ibuhos ang sapat na tubig pangtakip ng monggo. Pakuluin hanggang malambot. Itabi.
2. Uminit ng mantika sa kawali, lutuin ang mga sibuyas bago lutuin ang mga bawang hanggang bumango. Ilagay ang tuyong alamang at lutuin ang mga ito hanggang mag golden.
3. Haluin ang mga kamatis at lutuin hanggang lumambot ang mga ito. Isama ang lutong munggo (sinala), paminta, patis, at pork cube. Haluin ng mabuti bago buhusin ang 2 tasa ng tubig. Pakuluin.
4. Pagkululo, ihalo ang mga dahon ng sili at lutuin hanggang lumanta ang mga ito. Dekorasyon ng chicharon bago ihanda.