Asian Herbs and Their Many Uses: Bindae Duk (Mung Bean Pancakes with Herbs)

Article Tools

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

Makes 20 2 1/2-inch pancakes

These savory bean pancakes are a tasty snack food, excellent served with drinks. In Korea, these delicious patties are sold by street vendors. Serve them with a soy and vinegar dipping sauce combined with bottled miso, hoisin, oyster, or Thai peanut sauce, available at Oriental markets and some supermarkets.

Pancakes

• 1 cup dried mung beans
• Water
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon each garlic chives and Thai basil or spearmint, or 1 small whole leaf of sukkat (edible chrysanthemum) for each pancake
• Chile pepper flakes, optional
• 1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
• Salt to taste
• Canola oil

1. Grind the dried mung beans twice in a coffee or spice blender or a food processor. Place the yellow powder in a medium bowl. Add enough water to make a thick batter, cover, and allow it to sit for 24 hours or overnight.

2. To prepare the pancakes, stir the bean batter well, then add the egg, herbs, optional chile flakes, sesame seed oil, and salt to taste. Combine all ingredients well, adding water to thin the batter, if necessary. Heat a small amount of canola oil on a cast-iron griddle. Pour about 1 tablespoon batter for each pancake onto the hot griddle and cook over low to medium heat until browned on both sides.

3. The pancakes should be about 2 1/2 inches in diameter. Place them as they are cooked onto a heated serving platter. To embed a sukkat leaf on the pancake surface, fry the pancake on one side, place the sukkat leaf in the center of the uncooked side, then turn the pancake over and cook over low heat so that the herb doesn’t burn.

4. Serve the pancakes with Dipping Sauce (recipe below).

Dipping Sauce

• 4 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon dark sesame oil
• 1/4 teaspoon each minced garlic, minced fresh ginger, and minced cilantro

1. Stir all ingredients together in a small bowl.

Carole Saville is a Los Angeles writer and landscape designer who specializes in herbs.

Click here for the original article, Asian Herbs and Their Many Uses.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print