I've been crazy busy the past few weeks which is why I haven't really had the time to work on my back logs. Good thing I'm already done editing the photos and I just have to work on writing the post, phew! Not sure if I'll skip my Friday's 10 Happy Things this week, but I thought about putting this recipe out first since it's very appropriate on a Friday.
For today's recipe, we'll be talking about Mongo. In our office pantry, I would always tell the person in charge if they're running out of recipes since there's always Mongo every Friday. She would then respond that Mongo is served on Fridays like clockwork, but she also didn't know how or why it started. Do you? I've been stressing my guts out trying to find out why, but I couldn't so I just resorted to cooking it, hahaha! No connection at all, just want to share my dilemma.
This recipe is easily customizable and you can add all sort of ingredients that fits your taste. For your pre-cooking preparation, wash your Mongo Beans and make sure you remove the floating particles. Those are your bad beans. I would suggest soaking them for half a day or longer, for easier cooking. For the rest of the recipe, you'll be needing the following:
- Mongo Beans (rinsed and soaked)
- Pork (cut into small pieces)
- Garlic
- Onion
- Tomatoes
- Shrimp Paste (Bagoong Isda)
- Pepper
- Alugbati (Malabar Spinach)
- In a saucepan, saute onion, garlic and tomatoes.
- Add the pork and saute until the color turns brown.
- Once the pork turns brown, add your Mongo beans with about 1 cup of water. Add more water when necessary.
- Simmer the Mongo beans for about 5 minutes or more, depending on how long you soaked it in water.
- After simmering, add the Alugbati before it is totally cooked. I usually add it 2 minutes before I turn off the fire.
- Gauge the flavor and add Shrimp Paste and Pepper as needed.
See, easy as 1,2,3! I'm still full of queries as to why it's always served on a Friday but I'm good so long as I know how to cook it, lol. When Mongo is served at home, my Dad would usually add bits of Pork Rind (Chicharon) to top the dish off. Sometimes instead of Pork, we also add Shrimp. For the vegetables, you can also add eggplant, bitter gourd and any other leafy vegetable you have in mind.
This week exhausted the hell out of me. Looking forward to pigging out and staying in while catching up on my TV shows. Arrow's season premiere was quite anti-climactic for me. SVU is doing another controversial episode ala Ferguson, and I hear they're also gearing up for a Duggar-inspired episode. I'm most thrilled with HTGAWM because of the hanging ending they keep on showing. I read on Twitter there's a typhoon coming in over the weekend. Stay safe, folks! Hope you all have a great weekend!
Ochi is a twenty-something Corporate Trainer who loves to cook, take photos and videos of her food, eat and travel. On weekends, she's either drunk or snuggling in bed watching her favorite crime drama. 
