Korean Street Food Bindaetteok. Mung Bean Pancake

Bindaetteok is a popular Korean street food pancake made with mung bean sprouts, kimchi, and vegetables. It is typically served with rice wine called makgeolli as part of the drinking experience. This recipe was inspired by the famous Gwang Jang Food Market in Seoul.

The crispness of the pancake comes from the texture of the mung beans, while the savoriness comes from the pork and vegetables. The dish can be made vegetarian by omitting the pork, or it can be made even more flavorful by adding fish sauce, minced ginger, and garlic.

Serve with dipping sauce, kimchi and your favorite light beer or rice wine.

Serves 4 - 6 pancakes. 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dried mung beans  
• 1 cup beans sprouts
• 1 cup chopped kimchi (if you don’t have kimchi around, create the umami flavor with 1 teaspoon of fish sauce, ½ teaspoon of grated ginger, 1 teaspoon minced garlic)
• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions
• 1/4 cup chopped red or green chili pepper for garnish. (optional if you like it more spicy)
• 1 tablespoon rice wine
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• Vegetable oil for frying

Dipping sauce:

• 4 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sugar or mirin
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 teaspoon gochugaru if you like it spicy

Instructions:

1. Soak dried mung beans in warm water for one hour. Rinse and drain. Coarsely puree in a food processor with 1/2 cup of water. Do not over blend. You want to keep the chunky bits to get the crispy texture. 
2. Marinate the pork in a bowl with rice wine, soy sauce. Season with salt and pepper, marinate for 20 minutes. Cook in a separate pan and set aside. 
3. Blanch bean sprouts, rinse in cold water and squeeze out the excess water and set aside.
4. Mix the ground mung beans, cooked pork, cooked bean sprouts, chopped kimchi and mix well in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat.
6. Once the oil gets hot, ladle in the mixture about 1/2 cup to create a flat circle filling inside the pan. Add several pieces of red or green peppers and chopped green onions on top to give it a garnish and some color contrast. Cook until golden crisp about 2 -3 minutes. Watch carefully not to over brown. Carefully flip and until crisp brown on the other side. Transfer to a paper towel lined try and continue the remaining batter. 
7. Cut the pancake into pizza shaped pies and serve with the dipping sauce.