Mung Bean Pancake
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A classic Korean dish, this Mung Bean Pancake recipe is a must during New Year celebrations. Crispy golden brown on the outside but soft and tender on the inside. Who wouldn’t love this recipe?
History of the Mung Bean Pancake Recipe
The Korean name for mung bean pancakes are bindae-tteok (빈대떡) and just like regular pancakes, there are many variations of the mung bean pancake recipe.
The earliest records of it were in a 1670s cookbook under the name binjatteok. The original mung bean pancake recipe was topped with savoury chunks of pork. This version was mainly enjoyed by the rich while lower social classes had the plain variety.
In modern recipes, the pancakes are fried in shallow oil to get their signature crispy exterior. This makes it a popular street food and it’s often served with a spicy dipping sauce served on the side.
About the Ingredients
In western cuisines, mung beans are less common. They are much more popular in Asian cuisines such as Korean, Chinese and Vietnamese, but this doesn’t mean you aren’t familiar with them. You might know them better by their spouts, bean sprouts!
Ground mung beans are the main ingredient of Korean mung bean pancakes. They make up the batter while other ingredients are for the filling or to flavour the pancake. The most popular are cabbage kimchi, sprouts, onions, glutinous rice, or ground pork.
As mentioned before, there are many types of Korean pancakes. There’s bound to be one that will appeal to everyone. Depending on your preference, you can make vegetable pancakes or you can stick with this mung bean pancake recipe that uses pork and kimchi. So don’t be afraid to get creative with them though!
Bindae-tteok is not the only type of Korean pancake. There is pajeon, which is very similar to Chinese Scallion Pancakes, and buchimgae. They all taste amazing!
If you like mung beans or just want to take in more of their many health benefits, try this Mung Bean Salad recipe!
Heat about 2 tablespoons of cooking oil in a non-stick pan over medium to medium-high heat. The more oil you use to fry, the crispier the pancakes will be.Heat about 2 tablespoons of cooking oil in a non-stick pan over medium to medium-high heat. The more oil you use to fry, the crispier the pancakes will be.
Mung Bean Pancake Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups dried,peeled and split mung beans, yields ~4 cups soaked
- water
- 8 oz bean sprouts
- 8 oz kimchi
- 6 - 8 stalks scallions
- 4 oz ground pork
- 2 - 3 hot peppers, optional
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- ½ tsp salt
- vegetable oil for pan-frying
Dipping Sauce:
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp vinegar, or to taste
- 2 tbsp water
- pinch of black pepper
- pinch of red pepper flakes (gochugaru), optional
Instructions
- Rinse the dried mung beans with running water before adding them to a large bowl. Fill the bowl with water until the water level is 2 inches above the mung beans. Cover and soak for 3 to 4 hours. They should grow to about double in size. Add more water if needed.
- While the mung beans are soaking, blanch the bean sprouts in boiling water for 2 minutes. Rinse them in cold water afterwards to stop the cooking process and gently squeeze out any excess water. Skip this step if you prefer crunchy uncooked bean sprouts.
- Afterwards, wash the scallions and chop off both ends. Then slice the scallions, kimchi and hot peppers thinly. Peel the garlic and mince.
- In another large bowl, combine the kimchi, bean sprouts, scallions, hot peppers, meat, soy sauce, sesame oil and garlic. Mix well.
- Once the mung beans have soaked long enough, drain the excess water and scoop 2 cups of them into a blender or food processor. Add in ¾ cup of cold water with ½ of salt and blend until it has a coarse, sand-like consistency. Add more salt and water if needed.
- Remove the mung bean paste mixture and add it to the bowl of mixed ingredients. Repeat step 5 with the remaining mung beans.
- Mix the mung bean batter together until the ingredients are evenly distributed.
Frying:
- Heat about 2 tablespoons of cooking oil in a non-stick pan over medium to medium-high heat. The more oil you use to fry, the crispier the pancakes will be.
- Using a ladle, scoop the mung bean batter onto the pan, one scoop per pancake. Quickly rotate the pan to spread it into a thin round shape.
- Cook until the bottom is golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add a little bit more oil and flip. Press down on the pancake using your spatula and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.
- Repeat steps 9 and 10 until you run out of batter.
- Serve immediately while the pancakes are still hot with the dipping sauce. Enjoy!
Dipping Sauce (optional):
- It’s a very easy sauce! Just add all the dipping sauce ingredients together in a small bowl and mix. Adjust to your personal taste.
