RECIPE: Vegan Filipino Munggo (Balatong)
Munggo or Balatong as I grew up calling it, is a traditional Filipino stew made from Mung Beans. Mung Beans are a protein-packed legume grown in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and India. This might be the first time you’ve heard of mung beans, but it’s actually used in popular plant-based products such as Just Egg and Beyond Meat. This dish is super hearty, real yummy, and reminds me of my childhood.
INGREDIENTS:
1 Cup of uncooked Mung Beans
5 Cups of Water
5 pieces of Soy Sheets
1/4 Cup of Soy Sauce
1 16oz Block of Firm Tofu
1 Large Tomato (or 2 small)
1 Bunch of Spinach
2-3 Cups of cubed Kobucha Squash
Half a medium yellow onion (or a whole small onion)
5 cloves of garlic (more or less depending on your taste)
Salt & Pepper
DIRECTIONS:
So first things first: the soy sheets. Traditionally, this dish has chicharron or pork skins but because I’m making this dish vegan, i’ll be using soy sheets to mimic that texture. In order to get rid of the soy taste, you gotta soak them in a bowl of hot water for at least 30 minutes. Set them off to the side and forget about them until the end.
Now the mung beans. Add 1 cup of mung beans to 4 cups of water. Bring your heat up to high till it comes to a rapid boil.
Onto the onions, garlic and tomatoes. I’m using half of a medium sized yellow onion but feel free to add more or less depending on how much you like onions. Mince your garlic. I used 5 large cloves but again, use less if you like. Give your tomato a rough chop — I used a large tomato but use 2 smaller ones if that’s all you have.
I’m using a block of extra firm tofu in replace of the crispy pork. Slice up the tofu into small cubes. Make sure they’re about the same size so they cook evenly.
Check up on your mung beans. Once the water is rapidly boiling, drop the stove temp to low, add the lid and let it simmer for 45-50 minutes.
In a separate pan, add some cooking oil of your choice and saute the garlic and onion together. Once the garlic and onion have been sauteing in the pan for about 2 minutes and your kitchen smells fragrant, add the tomatoes to the pan. Mix these ingredients around for about a minute and set them aside.
Onto the tofu. Add some more oil into the pan and drop some pieces of tofu into the hot oil. Don’t overcrowd your pan otherwise the tofu may not crisp up. Fry up all your tofu pieces and season them liberally with salt and pepper. Set them aside on paper towels. You could also use an air fryer or bake them in an oven if you’d like to opt out of using a pan.
Check on your mung beans again. When half the liquid has absorbed into the beans, and your mung beans are looking mushy, add the soy sauce. Your mung bean mixture won’t look too appetizing, but it’ll smell so good.
Add the onion, garlic and tomato mixture into the pot and give it a stir.
Add another cup of water into the pot which makes the water count to 5 cups. It’ll look pretty liquidy, but the mung beans will soak up it up, and once all the other ingredient make their way to the pot, the mixture will thicken.
Dump the kobucha squash into the munggo. Place the lid back onto the pot and let the mixture continue to simmer on low for about 20 minutes or until the squash is fork tender.
While that’s happening, let’s work on the soy sheets. Drain the soy sheets and cut them into cubes. Don’t forget to squeeze them of any excess water, as they are like sponges. I used 5 sheets in this recipe. Throw the soy sheets into the munggo, give it a stir and this dish is almost done and smelling so wonderful.
Wash and dump a whole bunch of spinach into the pot. The spinach will wilt down.
And LAST but not least, add in the tofu. Give the munggo a good mix. The texture should be thick, goopy, and taste like a warm welcome home.
You can devour the dish as is, or over some steaming white rice, which is how I like to eat it.