Ginisang Munggo

Everybody has their own way of cooking ginisang munggo. I've always thought that in Pampanga, our town in the Philippines, they always processed their munggo so that it's very smooth. And since we didn't have food processor or blender, we used to press the cooked munggo in a slotted bilao we called bitse. Excuse the words, I don't know what they're called in English. lol

Well, apparently, not everyone in Pampanga processed their munggo. I guess, it's only us .. lol

I have always processed my munggo, and that's the only way my husband and children know how to eat it. If they see munggo and it's not processed, they won't eat it. I must admit, I am not used in eating it that way too, so I usually stay away from it when it's not processed. I have served this munggo with fried Ling. In the tagalog region, they usually serve it with paksiw na isda , but if we have to serve something with munggo it's always fried fish, preferably galunggong.




Ingredients:

1 cup of munggo beans

2 tbsp oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, chopped finely
1 tomato, chopped finely (optional)
1 - 2 tbsp of fish sauce
2 sticks of celery, chopped thinly and diagonally. Add the celery leaves if they're there.
bunch of spinach leaves (in my case, i put silver beet from the garden), washed thoroughly

Directions:

Boil 3 cups of water. When the water is boiling, add the dried munggo beans. Cook until it's very soft. About half an hour to 45 minutes. Keep stirring it, while cooking otherwise it might burn. When the munggo is soft, put it in a blender. I use a hand-held blender and blend it directly in the pot.

1. Saute garlic in the oil until slightly brown.
2. Add the onions, cook until translucent.
3. Add the tomatoes, and cook for another minute.
4. Season with fish sauce.
5. Add the celery pieces and cook further until the celery is slightly soft.
6. Add the processed munggo. Let it boil.
7. Add the spinach or silverbeet. Cook until the leaves are soft.
8. Serve with rice and your preferred fried fish. Or you can also serve pork chops if you're feeling generous.

When I was still in the Philippines, we used to put pumpkin flowers and the young leaves of the pumpkin. When I have zucchini flowers, I put them too. Other people, they use bagoong to season the munggo, but since my family do not eat bagoong, I use fish sauce. And others they put pork with it too. If you want to incorporate pork, saute the thinly sliced pork after putting the tomatoes. Cook the pork until it's tender, then proceed as above.

Spaghetti with Prawns and fresh tomatoes and chili

I am not usually fond of pasta dishes. The only way I eat it is when I cook it with seafood, mainly prawns and I will make it spicy so that it's palatable for me. Of course, you can always omit the chili. I omit the chili when I cook this for the family, they don't like it spicy. So I separate some of the tomato mixture for me and then I add the chili.




Ingredients:

1 500 grams of spaghetti, cook as per direction

2 tbsp of olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped finely
4 - 5 medium ripe tomatoes, chopped
500 grams of prawns, shelled and deveined
salt and pepper to taste
chili (optional) chopped finely


Directions:

1. Saute garlic in oil until fragrant.
2. Add the onions and stir until translucent.
3. Add the tomatoes. Cook the tomatoes for about 2 minutes.
4. Season with salt and pepper.
5. If you're adding the chili, mix it now.
6. Add the prawns, and stir thoroughly.
7. Prawns are cooked when they changed in colour.
8. Remove from heat and mix the cooked spaghetti.

Serve with your favourite wine. I like banrock crimson cabernet. Cheers!

Coconut Macaroons

I found this recipe at the back of the packet of a dessicated coconut when we were living in the Gold Coast way back in 1993. Well, we were not really living there, we were just having an extended holiday. 6 months is still a holiday, right.?Anyway, I used to bake this a lot back then. I always like macaroons, so when I found this recipe I was so excited I could finally bake some myself. I was just learning to bake at that time too, and this is a very easy recipe.

What triggers me to bake this again after all these years? Well, my sister Lhie who is learning to bake told me she just baked some, and she was quite impressed with herself. My son, Kim saw the pictures she posted on Facebook, and he wanted some, so I baked him some. And here are some of the macaroons I baked just a while ago.






Ingredients:

4 eggs, separated
pinch of salt
1/2 cup caster sugar
4 1/2 cups dessicated coconut

Directions:

1. Beat egg whites and salt until soft peaks form.
2. Beat in egg yolks (onto the egg whites - for the benefit of my sister) one at a time.
3. Gradually add sugar.
4. Stir in coconut, use spatula to mix well.
5. Line muffin trays with patty pan papers
6. Spoon mixture onto the patty pans. Press the mixture slightly.
7. Bake at 170 C for 15 - 20 minutes.