Mongo with Sotanghon (Mung Bean Soup with Glass Noodles)

It was Friday. I knew the girlfriends were waiting for my text message about dinner. I was planning to cancel it as I didn't have a dish in mind. Also, I hadn't gone grocery shopping. I composed a quick message but before pressing the "send" button, I hurried over to the kitchen to check the fridge and see if I could find  any thing to cook. There's nothing else but a head of cabbage, tomatoes and 5 pieces of mackerel. I saw a small pack of vermicelli. If I could find mung beans in the cabinet, then dinner would push through. I was so happy I did. Two hours before the appointed time, I sent a text message to the girls.

I fried the mackerel. I cooked  mung beans soup with cabbage and vermicelli. The girls arrived  when I was setting the table. We enjoyed a simple yet  delicious Filipino meal.

Ingredients:
100 g mung beans
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cabbage, hand-torn
1 small pack of glass noodles
salt and pepper to taste
 water

Procedure:
Soak mung beans overnight. It was a last minute decision to serve this dish at dinner so I only soaked them for 2 hours.

Gently rub the mung beans with your hands and rinse twice to remove husks.

Place the mung beans in  a sauce pan. Cover with enough water ( approximately 300-400 ml)

Cover the saucepan. Bring to a boil. Be sure you skim off the froth that rises on the surface as you boil them. The mung beans are cooked when they burst.

Meanwhile, soak the glass noodles in water for 5 - 10 minutes until softened.

Heat the oil in pan over medium heat. Saute garlic and onion until aromatic and softened.Add the tomatoes and cook until soft and they render their juices. Remove from heat.

Return the mung beans back to heat. Pour in the sauteed garlic, onion and tomatoes. Season with salt, and pepper. Simmer for a couple of minutes.

Add glass noodles and simmer for 5 minutes.

Lastly add the cabbage. Cover the saucepan. Simmer for a minute and turn off the heat.

Ladle into a bowl. Serve with fried fish. Enjoy!