Korean-Style Savory Mung Bean Pancake (Bindae-tteok)

I love Korean food, and one of my favorite things to order at restaurants is the seafood pancake, Hamuel Pajoon. It’s light, crispy, peppered with scallion, squid, and shrimp, and so so flavorful. It is usually eaten with a dipping sauce (honestly the best part), and just look at how yummy it looks:

It was a huge disappointment for me after I started my gluten-free diet when I found out I could not eat seafood pancakes anymore (they contained flour). I needed to find a substitute for it and that is where this savory mung bean pancake comes in! Made majorly of grounded up mung beans, this Korean-inspired pancake is gluten-free and just as delicious. 

*I am not Korean so I cannot confirm the authenticity of my recipe as truly Korean, but the ingredients and cooking methods are all based on traditional korean recipes for Bindae-tteok. That is why these are korean-inspired!

Mung bean pancakes do require preparation ahead of time, as you need to soak the mung beans overnight. I use dried mung bean with the green skin stil on, but you can also use the hulled kind as well, both pictured below:

To simplify the process, you can make a big batch of the base mung-bean mix and customize with any combination of add-ins when you are ready to cook. I like to add scallions, carrots, chives and ground pork to mine, but you can add almost any type of vegetable or meats to them! Other common toppings include bean sprouts, cabbage, and dried seaweed. It’s a fun process to test out different flavor combinations—I am excited to try adding kimchi and cheese the next time I make these! 

Kitchen Bop Music Rec: Blame on You by Victoria Song. This is an upbeat song that makes you want to dance! Did you know that Victoria used to be a member of the korean girl band F(x)? She’s a really good dancer and singer. 

These are cooked on the stove in under 15 minutes, so they are still relatively fast to make. I recommend you to try to include the dipping sauce too; it adds so much depth in taste!

Korean-Style Savory Mung Bean Pancake (Bindae-tteok)

Made majorly of grounded up mung beans, this Korean-inspired pancake is gluten-free and just as delicious.

4.67 from 6 votes

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Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 10 mins

Soaking Time 8 hrs

Course Appetizer, Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine Korean

Servings 6 Pancakes

Ingredients

  

Base Mix

• 1 cup dried mung beans
• Water for soaking
• 1 egg
• 2-4 tbsp cornstarch
• 2 tsp salt
• ½ tsp black pepper flakes
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1 tsp minced ginger
• Vegetable oil for pan

Reccomended Add-Ins

• 3 stalks scallion
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• ½ cup chopped chives
• ½ cup ground pork season with 1tsp soy sauce and black pepper

Dipping Sauce

• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp hot water
• 1 tsp white sesame seeds
• Pinch salt
• 2 tsp granulated sugar

Instructions

 

• Wash and soak mung beans for 8 hours or overnight. Make sure there is at least twice the amount of water as there are beans because the beans will absorb a lot of water.
• After soaking, drain and rinse the mung beans again. Put them into a blender or food processor and blend it until the texture is similar to that of apple sauce. Try to avoid adding extra water in at any point; the mixture should not be too runny because it will be your batter.
• Wash and chop scallion into 2 inch long pieces. Cut each piece again in half vertically.
• In a large bowl, mix blended mung beans, egg, salt, pepper, garlic, ginger and sesame oil together.
• Mix in your add-ins.
• Add cornstarch depending on the consistency of your batter. It should be like cake batter or slightly thicker.
• Liberally oil and heat a pan on medium-high heat.
• Once the pan is hot, ladle batter into pan in rounds. Press down to flatten to width of about 1 finger thick.
• Cook on medium-high for 3-5 minutes with the lid on until the side becomes golden brown.
• Flip and cook the other side for another 2-3 minutes.
• Remove from pan and enjoy while hot!
• To make the dipping sauce, combine soy sauce, sugar, salt, sesame and hot water in a saucer. Stir to dissolve the sugar, and serve with the mung bean pancakes!

Keyword asian, mung bean, pancake, scallion