Instructions
- Wash Mung beans twice. Drain the mung beans and cook in a medium-sized saucepan with the indicated amount of water. It takes around 40-55 minutes to cook.
- Add coconut milk and salt, then simmer for 15 minutes.
- In a separate saucepan, heat the oil, then add the garlic, onion, bitter melon, and rosemary. Stir-fry for 3 minutes. Mix well, and don't let it burn.
- Add the cooked beans and remaining water to the saucepan. Add malabar spinach and simmer for 5 minutes.
This is a hearty, plant-based mung bean soup that leans on coconut milk to give it a thick, creamy body without any dairy or meat. The mung beans simmer low and slow until tender, then get folded into a coconut milk base that turns silky rather than watery, the kind of texture that makes a bean soup feel substantial on its own.
The real character comes from the aromatics and vegetables cooked alongside it. Garlic, onion, and a touch of rosemary get sautéed first to build a savory base, and that’s where the bitter melon comes in, sliced thin and cooked down until its sharp, slightly bitter edge softens and melts into the broth rather than dominating it. Malabar spinach goes in near the end, wilting into the soup and adding a mild, slightly mucilaginous green note that’s common in Filipino-style vegetable soups. The result is a balanced bowl where the bitterness, creaminess, and earthiness of the beans all round each other out instead of competing, a comforting, wholesome soup that tastes far richer than its short ingredient list suggests.
