Rookie Pan
← All recipes
Korea, Asia

Bindaetteok (Mung Bean Pancakes)

Korea's classic mung bean pancakes: soaked beans ground to a batter, loaded with kimchi, bean sprouts and pork, and fried in plenty of oil until crisp.

ServingsServes 2
Total cooking time45 min
Soaking the beans+ 6 h
DifficultyMedium
About servingsCook the pork all the way through. Keep wet ingredients away from the hot oil to avoid spitting, and turn the heat off at once if the oil starts to smoke.

Method

  1. Put the mung beans and rice in water, rub them between your palms and change the water. Soak in plenty of cold water for at least (or overnight). They are ready when a bean crumbles easily between your fingers. Pour off any green hulls that float up.

    Add in this stepSplit hulled mung beans (yellow) 160 gShort-grain rice 20 g

  2. Make the dip first: cut the onion into 2 cm squares and mix with the soy sauce and vinegar; it will be nicely seasoned by the time you eat. Mix the ground pork with its soy sauce, the garlic, sesame oil and pepper, and squeeze it together by hand.

    Add in this stepSoy sauce (for the dip) 2 tbspRice vinegar 1 tbspOnion 60 gGround pork 100 gSoy sauce (for the pork) 2 tspGarlic, minced 10 gToasted sesame oil 1 tspBlack pepper 1 pinch

  3. Bring plenty of water to the boil in a 18 cm pot on high heat. Blanch the bean sprouts for , rinse them in cold water, squeeze them very dry and chop into 3 cm lengths. Wet sprouts make a soggy, limp pancake.

    Add in this stepMung bean sprouts 120 g

    high heat

  4. Drain the soaked beans and rice in a sieve. Blend them for , adding the water a little at a time, into a paste as thick as porridge with a very slight graininess. Grinding until totally smooth gives a less crispy result. If your blender is small, work in two batches.

    Add in this stepWater (for grinding) 120 ml

  5. Squeeze the kimchi firmly and chop it into 1 cm pieces; cut the green onion into thin 3 cm strips. In a large bowl, mix the bean batter, seasoned pork, sprouts, kimchi, green onion and salt. Salt draws out water, so mix just before frying.

    Add in this stepWell-fermented napa cabbage kimchi 120 gLeek-style green onion or scallions 40 gSalt ½ tsp

  6. Pour enough oil into a 26 cm frying pan to cover the base by 2 to 3 mm and heat on medium-high heat. When a drop of batter sizzles and floats at once (about 170 °C), turn down to medium heat. Ladle in two portions, spread each to a 10 cm round about 1 cm thick and fry for per side. Flip only once, when the edges are deep brown and crisp, then drizzle a little more oil around the edge of the pan. Oil can spit, so lower the batter in close to the pan and turn the handle inwards. Fry in 2 batch(es) this way, topping up the oil each time.

    Add in this stepVegetable oil (for frying) 75 ml

    medium-high heat→medium heat

  7. Drain the pancakes on a rack or kitchen paper. When you press the centre, no pink juice should come from the pork. Cut into pieces and serve hot with the onion dip.

Cook's tip

Add the water to the blender gradually so the batter doesn't turn runny; if it does, stir in glutinous rice flour or plain flour a tablespoon at a time. Don't skimp on oil: too little and the pancakes soak it up and turn soggy instead of crisp.

Cooking it at camp

Soak and grind the beans at home and bring just the batter in the cooler; mix in the salt and kimchi at the campsite. A heavy pan or griddle on the stove with a windshield keeps the oil temperature steady. Soak up used oil with paper towels and pack it out.