Mungbean Cakes

Lately, I have had the itch to start cooking Korean food again. There always seems to be handful of variations for each recipe and very little measuring, at least when I cook Korean food. It's always a dollop of this, a spoonful of that or a light pour of this. However, here is one of my attempts to get a dish on paper.

I made Nokdoo Bin Dae Dduk (Mungbean Cakes) for the first time. I tried to make an accurate recipe but it was kind of hard. I eyeballed a lot of stuff. And my mom, who was helping me, never gives measurements.

Mom: You should put a lot of kimchi in. That's what makes it good.
Me: How much? How many cups??
Mom: Mix some rice with the mungbean.
Me: How much? How many cups??

And on and on. Here is the recipe I came up with. The cakes turned out really frickin delicious. I'm addicted to them now. I may have to make more.


my mom said this is too browned. so fry a bit less than i did. ;)

Mungbean Cakes

1.5 cup peeled mung bean
0.5 cup white rice
very little gosari (fernbrake), maybe less than .25 lb (optional)
0.5 lb ground beef (or half beef, half pork)
1 bag green bean sprout (mungbean sprout)
1.75 to 2 cups kimchi (sliced and water squeezed out)
5 green onions

1. Soak mungbean and rice in warm water for at least an hour. Steam green bean sprouts in pot with water barely enough to cover. Cover for few minutes then drain. When cooled squeeze the water out.

2. Slice kimchi and squeeze the water out. Total kimchi should measure about 1.75 to 2 cups. Chop green onion and gosari into 1/2 inch pieces.

3. Drain mungbean and rice and process/blend with some of the soaking liquid (just enough to allow the mixture to blend smoothly).

4. Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl with a pinch of salt.

5. Fry in a non-stick pan with olive oil over medium heat. Place about two spoonfuls in the pan and pat down the highest point gently. You can fit 3 cakes into a pan. You want the cakes to have some thickness without being too dense so don't put too much pressure on them. Brown for few minutes, flip and press down gently. Another few minutes and voila! Mungbean cakes.

**Serve with seasoned soy sauce: soy sauce + green onion, sesame seed, sesame oil, korean pepper flakes. Sambal is also very yummy with the cakes.
**The cakes should measure about 3 inches or less. Smaller is better. The mixture may separate a bit while you are waiting on the frying ones. Just mix it up again and you should be okay.
**You can make this vegetarian by leaving out the meat.