Korean mung bean pancakes (or bindaetteok), are savory pan fried cakes made from ground dried mung beans and a variety of tasty fillings. My favorite is pork/kimchi. This recipe is a combo of my mother-in-law’s recipe and the recipe in the Korean Kitchen cookbook.
These are really healthy for you as mung beans have a lot of protein and vitamins and if you use lean meat in them, they are relatively low in fat. You usually dip them in some sauce when eating (we used a simple mix of soy, rice vinegar, sesame oil and sesame seeds that is sooo good).
You need to make sure to use dried, peeled mung beans here. They will be yellow. You will also see green ones, which are unpeeled and do not work. You can buy them at any Korean market or of course on Amazon if you don’t have a market near you. Pretty much all major grocery stores carry kimchi now too (yay!) so that is easy to find.
You can use ground pork in these, or you can use thinly julienned pork. I used pork tenderloin that I cut into thin pieces and stir fried first with some soy sauce, salt, white pepper and sesame oil to add flavor. The pancake also contain chopped kimchi (you want pretty ripe kimchi here because it is giving a lot of flavor, so buy some and wait until it is really strong), eggs, garlic, scallions, sesame seeds and sesame oil.
Bindaetteok (Korean Mung Bean Pancakes)
Ingredients
- 1 lb dried skinless mung beans
- 1/2 lb mung bean sprouts if you can find fresh ones
- 1 cup kimchi squeezed dry in paper towels and diced into 1/4 inch pieces
- 3 eggs
- 1/4 cup flour to help bind, optional
- 1/2-1 lb beef or pork, julienned or ground pork seasoned with a splash of soy sauce, sesame oil, a dash of pepper and a dash of salt
- 2 garlic cloves peeled
- 4 scallions thinly sliced
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
- canola oil for frying
Instructions
- Soak the mung beans in enough water to cover by 3-4 inches for 4 hours. Drain and rinse. Place into the blender or food processor and add the eggs, garlic, flour if using, salt, pepper, white pepper and sesame oil. Blend in pulses until the beans are roughly blended. You still want some texture, not fully smooth.
- Pour into a mixing bowl. Add a little oil to a skillet and fry your beef or pork until fully cooked. Blanch the bean sprouts in boiling water for 1 minute, drain and rinse under cold water and set aside with the pork.
- Mix the bean puree with the kimchi, pork, sliced scallions and sesame seeds. In a skillet, heat about a tbsp of oil over medium heat. Add about 1/2 of batter and spread it out a bit to make a pancake about 4-5 inches in diameter and about 1/4 inch thick. Cook for 2-3 minutes until lightly brown, then flip and cook on the other side until fully cooked. If they are getting too dark, turn down the heat. You want only lightly golden brown. I usually do two frying pans at once with 3 pancakes in each to make frying them quickly. Place on paper towel lined plate while you cook the rest.
- These are best served with a dipping sauce made from approx 3 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp rice vinegar, 2 tsp sesame oil, some sesame seeds and if you like some chopped garlic and scallion.
- These store really well in both the fridge and freezer and can be reheated in a skillet or microwave. We love having extras around to eat for a snack.