Born Again

Put a spring to your step this New Year. Instead of embarking on ‘diet,’ do a detox to rid the system of all the toxins — rich food, alcohol, sugar, and dairy — accumulated during the holiday season. Aside from your green juices, feed on seeds, sprouts, nuts, and legumes — all good to cleanse and bring out the new you.

Mung Bean Stew

INGREDIENTS
One part shrimp heads  and shell trimmings.
Enough water to cover the shrimp parts
250 g green mung beans (monggo)
1 L water
20 g (4 cloves) garlic, peeled and minced
80 g (1 pc) onion, peeled and chopped
240 g (3 pcs) tomatoes, chopped
25 g shrimp paste (bagoong alamang)
100 g fresh shrimps, peeled and deveined (reserve heads and shell trimmings to make shrimp stock)
salt and pepper to taste
150 g ( 6 pcs) small, freshly smoked fish (tinapa), deboned and flaked
100 g (1 bunch) spinach or young bitter gourd (ampalaya) leaves
100 g pork crackling (chicharon) for topping, optional

PROCEDURE
To make shrimp stock: Boil heads and trimmings and reduce to simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Blend
in a food processor and strain, or through a strainer. Discard the solids.
To make monggo guisado: Place mung beans and water in a pot and boil until tender. Add more water if needed. As the mung beans are cooking, the outer coverings will shed and float. Discard these
if desired. Set mung beans in its liquid aside.
       In a preheated deep pan, add oil. Saute garlic and onion until transluscent. Then add tomatoes, stirring for another 3 minutes. Add shrimp paste and fresh shrimps.
       Pour in the cooked mung beans, its liquid, and the shrimp stock. Simmer for 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the smoked fish flakes and mix. Just before serving, add bitter gourd or spinach leaves and stir once then remove from heat.

Did you know that mung beans provide an affordable, all-around nutrition? Mung beans or monggo are a good source of protein, carbohydrates, micronutrients such as Vitamin C and iron, and fiber.

 

Naked Spring Roll

INGREDIENTS
30 ml cooking oil
25 g (1 small) carrot, peeled and cut into strips
50 g (1 small) camote, peeled and cut into strips
50 g (1 small) singkamas, peeled and cut into strips
25 g (4-5 pcs) Baguio beans, thinly sliced diagonally
250 g mung bean sprouts (togue), washed and drained
45 ml water
60 ml chicken or shrimp stock
salt and pepper to taste

PROCEDURE
In a wok, heat oil, and saute carrot and kamote for one minute. Add the rest of ingredients. Then add chicken or shrimp stock. Cook until vegetables are done. Season with salt and pepper according to taste. Serve hot.

 

Quick Pad Thai

INGREDIENTS
.625 g atsuete
840 ml water
1 big pack tamarind soup powder
2.5 g paprika
4 g white sugar
2.5 ml Thai fish sauce (season according to taste)
30 ml cooking oil
1/2 pc onion
1 pack hibe (dried shrimp)
4 small blocks of tokwa (firm tofu), cubed
200 g chicken breast fillet
1 500-gram pack dry rice noodle
2 pcs eggs
100 g fresh bean sprouts
spring onions, cut into 1-inch length
30 g dry roasted peanuts, finely chopped

PROCEDURE
Soak atsuete in 45 ml of hot water in bowl. Stir and let it sit for 10 minutes.  
        In a medium sized bowl, mix in the tamarind soup powder, paprika, sugar, fish sauce, and water. Strain soaked atsuete beans and pour soaking water in the tamarind soup base.
       Heat oil in pan or wok, and sauté hibe and tofu. Stir-fry chicken breast until brown. Add in tamarind-atsuete mix. Bring to boil.
        When the sauce is boiling, put in the dry rice noodles. The noodles soak up the liquid, so if it looks too dry, but the noodles aren’t cooked yet, add more hot water. When the noodles have absorbed all the liquid, transfer everything into another bowl. In your original wok, add oil and crack in the two eggs.
When the eggs are semi-set, poke the yolk and swirl it around the wok. With the egg still runny, put the noodles back into your wok, then stir. Toss in bean sprouts. Garnish pad Thai with spring onions and finely chopped peanuts.

 

Kiddie Project: Sprout Monggo Seeds

Things You'll Need:
Shoe box with lid
Small damp cloth or towel
Packet of dry mung beans
Water

PROCEDURE
Place a damp cloth or towel inside the shoe box. Place the beans on top of the cloth. Make sure there are spaces between each seed planted to avoid overcrowding. Cover the shoe box with the lid. Punch holes on the lid. Let it sit for one to two days. Wait for the seeds to sprout!
 

Toasted Mung Beans and Sticky Rice in Coconut Milk

INGREDIENTS
56.25 g mung beans (monggo)
420 ml 14-oz can coconut milk (gata)
240 ml water
95 g sticky rice (malagkit), thoroughly washed and drained
65 g granulated sugar, or to taste
salt to taste
5 ml vanilla extract (optional)

PROCEDURE
In a dry skillet over high heat, toast the mung beans until dark brown. Stir or toss continuously to evenly brown the beans. Cool.
        Using a mortar and pestle or rolling pin, gently crush the mung beans. Separate and discard the hulls if desired. Set aside.  
      In a saucepan, pour coconut milk and a cup of water in a saucepan. Add the toasted mung beans and washed rice. Bring to a boil. Simmer while uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, just until the rice and beans are thoroughly cooked but still firm. The mixture should have the consistency of lugaw. Stir in the sugar and season with salt according to taste. Serve with coconut milk. Enjoy hot or cold.

Sauteed Mung Bean Sprouts

INGREDIENTS
30 ml cooking oil
2 pcs. tokwa
20 g garlic, peeled and crushed
1 pc small onion, peeled and sliced
2 pcs tomatoes, sliced
900 g mung bean sprouts (togue), washed and drained
30 ml oyster sauce
1.42 g salt
10 ml fish sauce (patis)
pepper to taste    
red and green bell peppers, sliced, optional

PROCEDURE
In a wok, heat some oil and fry tokwa until golden on all sides. Set aside and dice into 1/2x1/2-inch cubes. In the same wok, sauté garlic, onion, and tomatoes. As the tomatoes start to wilt, add the tokwa, bean sprouts, oyster sauce, patis, salt, and black pepper. Add bell peppers. Continue cooking over medium heat until bean sprouts and bell peppers are done.

Soak Stars. Some recipes call for soaked nuts and seeds, especially walnuts and almonds. Soaking makes nuts and seeds taste better and removes tannins from the skins which give raw nuts an astringent, mouth-puckering taste. Soaking nuts and seeds also increases enzyme activity, absorption of the food’s nutrients by the body, and digestibility. Always discard soaking water. Soak nuts and seeds anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 to 3 hours, even overnight in the refrigerator. In general, harder nuts will take longer to soften.