Or more precisely, Mung Bean Soup? 

As we say in the Vergara household at Grace Park - monggo.  I have known only one way that the mung bean is cooked in the Philippines so if you were asked what you had for dinner and you say “monggo”, we’d know exactly how it was prepared.  It is also called Ginisang Monggo, the ginisang part usually translates to stir-fry which is somehow confusing.  The end product is a soup dish much like lentil soup or a chunky split pea soup.

Anyway, I was craving some monggo and, as usual, I did not want to do the work. (Mary and Jack are reluctant to try a lot of the Filipino dishes I make (though, actually I have not made much) and I do not want to make a whole pot of something, just for me, where I’m forced to eat all of it or end up throwing most of it into the garbage disposal— what a waste!) I decided to try “Mama Sita’s Instant Mung Bean Soup” — found this at my local Asian market.

The inside package did not look appetizing…

The instructions said to just add boiling water, wait one minute while stirring occasionally and to enjoy. Not much to enjoy in this bowl.

So I thought I would try the recommended variations and put it in the microwave for 2 minutes, get the liquid hot again and maybe the beans will hydrate more and the soup look more appetizing. No luck.

Maybe, it tasted better than it looked? It did not taste like my Mom’s monggo, had a lot more smoked fish flavor to it, overall, the flavor of the soup was not bad but I could not get past the texture and how it looks. So, it was into the garbage disposal, after all.