My friend Karla and I went to the Los Angeles Times Food and Wine Festival a couple of weekends ago. The event featured vendors from wineries and restaurants from all over southern California. We tasted everything from chocolates and donuts to fish tacos and yellow curry. The pink lemonade spiked with spirit made from sweet acai berry was also worth mentioning.

Our favorite were these Korean pancakes not much larger than the palm of a small child. We were so impressed the first time we tasted them, we went back for seconds. These pancakes were golden on the outside and slightly chewy on the inside. It had a flavor much more complex than the usual egg and flour batter. I didn’t have time to talk to the vendor, but knew that I needed to made my own once I got home.

I did a few Internet searches with most of them yielding recipes for pajeon, a kind of Korean pancake made out of scallions, flour, eggs and rice flour. I ruled it out immediately because the pajeon I had a restaurants were much larger than tenderer. Then I came across recipes for bin dae duk, a kind of pancakes made from mung beans. It took a few times to get the proportion right, but the end result was pretty darn close to what I had at the food festival. You would not believe how ecstatic I was.

Mung beans are small, green beans common in Asian cooking. You want the kind that’s peeled and split here for a smooth batter. I went straight to a Chinese grocery store because I knew they’d have them. I’ve since found them in bulk bins at health food stores. If you can’t find them peeled, you can soak whole mung beans in water for at least three hours and rub off the skin with your hands.

I only used carrots and scallions in this recipe because I wanted to stay true to the version I had at the food festival. My Internet research told me that you can add a varieties of things to these pancakes to make them more substantial–cooked squid, browned meats, bean sprouts and kimchi (tangy and spicy fermented vegetables found in Korean markets).

These pancakes are perfect for people who are allergic to wheat as they don’t use any flour. These are a great alternative for vegan eaters as the batter doesn’t contain any cheeses or eggs. But for the rest of us, these are just some simple and delicious treats any time of the day.