Mung Bean Soup with Beef (Ginisang Munggo at Baka)

Published: Nov 20, 2020 / Updated: Jun 14, 2021 by Adelyn

Healthy mung bean soup with beef for cold or rainy days. The mung beans and beef are boiled until tender. Best served with rice.

Recipe Ingredients

Mung beans – washed the beans first before cooking. Be careful when you wash the mung beans because they are tiny, I recommend to use a colander or strainer when you drain the water.
Beef – slice beef into bite-sized pieces. Best to use stewing meat or ribs because the time in cooking the beans is quite long. The beef meat and mung beans can be cooked for a long time together.
Water – The water is for boiling the mung beans and beef until they become tender.
Lemongrass – 1 stalk is needed. If lemongrass is not available, you don’t have to include this ingredient.
Oil – you only need 1 or 2 tablespoons of oil.
Onion- chopped the onion as desired or can be sliced.
Garlic -Garlic can either be minced or sliced
Tomatoes – chopped or sliced. Tomatoes add color to the soup.
Bouillon cube – I recommend using the beef flavor; chicken flavor can be an option if the beef flavor is not available.
Fish sauce – if you have an allergy, you don’t have to add the fish sauce, just add more salt instead.
Salt
Ground black pepper
Ginger - peeled and sliced thinly, lightly pounded. Adding ginger to the last part of the cooking is best, unless you want your soup to be a bit spicy you can add it sooner.
Cilantro to garnish – it is not traditional with this soup but I find it adds an extra flavor. If you love cilantro, try adding it to the soup. You can also use green onions.

Boil the mung beans, beef, and lemongrass in water for 1 hour or until tender.
Sauté onion, garlic, and tomatoes in a separate pan, and then add them to the mung beans.
Add fish sauce and bouillon cube. Let it simmer for another 15-30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the ginger then turn the heat off immediately. Garnish with Cilantro if you choose.

The soup can be stored in an airtight container and place in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.

Traditionally, in the Philippines, mung bean soup is eaten with rice.