Korean Mungbean Flatcake (Nokdu Buchimgae)

While flipping through a Korean cookbook, one pancake or flatcake dish stood up to me.  Because it used ground mung bean paste as a batter and it really intriguing me.  I never seen it in Malaysian cooking and it spiked my curiosity.  Furthermore, this recipe appeared again and again in several different cookbooks.  They are all different but one thing for sure is the ground mung bean paste.  Hence, I set to work with my own version with what I have at home and replaced the kimchi with spicy radish.   Instead of raw beef or pork, I used leftover fried chicken breast which I took off the skin and cut off the fried part.  Since everything were cooked, I just pan-fried until the flatcake became crispy and the middle no longer soft, you can press with your finger or spatula.

It can be called Jun or Buchimgae and you can make it all vegetarian by omitting the poultry or meat.  It will be as delicious!  Korean served this dish to welcome the new year too.  With this post, I want to wish all Korean a happy lunar new year!

Verdict:  I loved it!!  All seem to be married well together, the crispy bite on the outside and the soft and fluffy inside and the slightly nutty taste from the ground mung bean, what can I say but I will certainly make this again!  Since I seasoned the batter (oh well the Chinese in me, got to season everything!), it's good even without the sauce but tastes even better with the sauce. 

Crispy on the outside, soft and slightly nutty inside, so good!

~Yield about 10-11 flatcakes.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup split mung beans, rinse until water is cleared and soak in water overnight
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp. iodized salt
• 3/4 tsp. cane sugar
• 2 cups bean sprouts
• 1 cooked chicken breast, thinly shredded ( I used the leftover fried chicken breast)
• 2 bunches of scallion, separate.  Thinly sliced the green part for flatcake and diagonally sliced the white part for the sauce.
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced , separate. 2 for the batter and 2 for the sauce
• 3/4 cup spicy radish
• 1 Tbsp. sesame oil

The portion before mixed together

The consistency of my mung bean batter

Method:

1.  In a food processor, add in the soaked mung beans and 1/2 cup of water.  Process until fine.  Pour into a bowl.  Add in flour, salt, sugar and minced garlic.  Mix well and set aside.

2.  Blanch bean sprouts in boiling water for a minute.  Submerge in cold water and drain.  Set aside.

3.  In another big bowl, combine spicy radish, bean sprout and chicken breast.  Season with 1 Tbsp. sesame oil.  Mix well.  Pour the mung bean batter inside and mix well.

4.  Heat up a nonstick skillet in medium-heat.  Add a little oil.  Scoop some of the batter mixture in the center of the skillet, spread it out to about 3 inch in diameter.  Let it set while arrange some prepared shredded green scallion on top.  When set, flip it to cook the scallion side.  Leave it to set, don't press it or play around with it.  When it can move freely around the skillet, then you can flip it and check for doneness.  Press the middle of the flatcake to see whether it's firmed.

5.  Put scallion side up and arrange on a plate and serve with scallion garlic soy sauce.

Scallion Garlic Soy Sauce, mix all ingredients below in a bowl.

3 Tbsp. soy sauce

3/4 Tbsp. sesame oil

Prepared minced garlic

Prepared scallion

1 tsp. toasted sesame seeds