Mung Chowder Gumbo Recipe

This imitates your usual Cajun gumbo, only it's thickened with mung beans instead of the usual rice. Split mung beans, available in Asian markets, come dry and look like yellow lentils. The texture is for fans of comfort food on a rainy night, much like thick split-pea soup or chunky potato soup.

Chop:

• 1 red onion
• 3 ribs celery
• 1 bunch of green onions
• 1 bell pepper
• 2 tomatoes
• 1/2-3/4 lb okra, or buy it frozen and pre-chopped

In a wide saute pan, stir until smooth:

• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup flour

Using a wooden spoon or spatula, stir the flour mixture over medium-high heat till it's bubbling and starting to thicken. Add all the fresh vegetables except for tomatoes. Stir constantly, scraping the sticky mixture from bottom of the pan, until the sticky stuff has been replaced with browned crumbs and the onions are just starting to brown. Empty this into a stock pot or large sauce pan.

Add:

• 8-9 cups water
• 14 oz split mung beans
  
• 1 tsp crushed garlic

Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Add the tomatoes at this point. If the chopped ocra is frozen, add it now, and stir until the boil returns. This is a vegetarian recipe, but if you want to add a pound or so of shrimp or andouille sausage, stir-fry it separately beforehand, and stir it in at this point. Turn the heat down to  low, cover the pot, and let the mixture simmer for 20 minutes or so.

Then add:

• 3 tsp Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning, or 1-1/2 tsp salt plus cayenne pepper and Cajun spices to taste.
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp liquid smoke
• 1/2 tsp of extra salt, or to taste

Let it simmer longer, 20 minutes or so extra, or until the mung beans are tender and the gumbo takes on the texture of a thick split-pea soup.