Vegan Nokdu-jon Korean Mung Bean Pancakes Recipe!

Bill and I watched the Kimchi Chronicles on Hulu, a documentary series about Korean cuisine, and Marja and Jean-George were just delightful to watch. Their love for food and fun really makes you want to cook! Bill and I really enjoyed the Bean Chronicle episode, mainly because, they featured a lot of vegan friendly recipes. In that episode, Jean-George teases Marja about making Korean Mung Bean Pancakes every week ever since she learned to cook them, and Marja admits how much she loves them. So we were inspired to make some for ourselves. We used to make them from mix that we get from the Korean grocery store, but really, it is so much better if you make it from scratch, and it is so easy! Here you go!

Vegan Korean Mung Bean Pancakes Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup split mung beans
1/6 cup rice
1 cup sliced kimchi and sliced veggies (traditionally fern bracken or mung bean sprouts, but any veggies will do)
1/2 cup kimchi juice
pinch of salt
pinch of black pepper
1 tsp of gochugaru red pepper powder
1/4 cup of sesame oil
veggie oil

Directions:
1. Soak the mung beans and rice overnight or for 4-5 hours. Drain and rinse.
2. Add the soaked mung beans and rice along with the kimchi juice, salt, black pepper, gochugaru and sesame oil in a food processor and process it so it becomes a creamy texture.
3. Put the batter into a bowl and add the sliced kimchi and veggies. Mix well.
4. Heat the pan to medium high heat and add oil.
5. Once the oil is hot, make small rounds of pancakes and cook until brown, flipping once to brown both sides. They are better when it’s slightly crispy!
6. Enjoy!! 🙂

Sauce ingredients (optional):
1 Tbs soy sauce
Pinch of Korean pepper powder
Pinch of sesame seeds
Drizzle of apple cider vinegar
Sliced green onions

Soak the mung beans and rice overnight or for 4-5 hours minimum. Drain and rinse.

Add 1 tsp of gochugaru (or more or less if you prefer) to the mung beans.

Process the mung beans until creamy or more or less depending on if you would like a smoother or more textured pancake.

Add kimchi and/or vegetables. You can use mung bean sprouts, cabbage, carrots, be creative!

Add dollops of batter to heated pan and oil (you can also make one large pancake if you prefer).

Flip the pancake when one side is browned and brown the other side. They are better when slightly crispy!

You can serve them with a dipping sauce if you would like. Add a little soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, and gochugaru and mix well (you can also add diced scallions of you’d like).

Enjoy! These are addictive! 🙂