Ginisang Munggo

My friend and upstairs neighbor, Jorge Manahan, is the undisputed King of Chicken Adobo. I always begin salivating if I get a call inviting me to join him for a meal of the Filipino national dish! Since I'm not quite willing to attempt it myself (and why bother when you have an adobo master living in the building), I've experimented with a few other Filipino foods recently. The recipe below is one of my favorites, and like all the dishes on this site, is a cinch to prepare. You can easily double the portions for a larger crowd (or more leftovers). Jorge's spirited chihuahua Ocho loves Filipino food, and Mexican, and Italian, and French et al. See Jorge and his pooch (with your web host) above.

GINISANG MUNGGO

1lb Large shrimp / 2 cups Dry mung beans / 1 Yellow onion, peeled and sliced / 2 tbsps Peanut oil / 2 cloves Sliced garlic / 4 1/2 cups Chicken stock / 1 Thin slice of fresh ginger / 1 tsp Salt / 1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper

1. Soak beans overnight, then hull them by rubbing them in your hands, scoop out the hulls from the container, then rinse the beans.
2. Add peanut oil into a large preheated saucepan, and stir fry your yellow onion and garlic, then add your chicken soup stock and your slice of ginger.
3. Bring the lot to a boil, reduce heat, cover, simmer for 20 minutes, remove your ginger, then continue cooking for about 10 minutes.
4. Add shrimp, salt and pepper, and cook for another 6 or 7 minutes, allowing the shrimp to absorb the flavor.

I like to serve Ginisang Mungoo with plain brown rice, a watercress salad and sliced, vinegared cucumbers. A dry Riesling, well chilled, is a perfect partner for the meal.