Friday, February 22, 2013

Vegan Mung Bean Crepes/Tortillas Recipe- Gluten Free

Mung bean crepes filled with potato, eggplant, and zucchini curry.

When most people think mung beans (if they think about them at all), they think mung bean sprouts, the standard "bean sprouts" used in Chinese cooking. However, there are so many other uses for mung beans, including mung bean pancakes, and in this recipe, mung bean crepes. I love this recipe for mung bean crepes- it's pretty forgiving- I rarely make it with a recipe- I usually just throw it all together until it looks the right consistency, and it works well. It needs no xanthan gum or eggs or egg replacements, and can be used in place of tortillas in recipes, like Mexican food, to make into wraps, to hold Indian curries, and can even be made into tortilla chips.

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Vegan cheese pinwheels made with mung bean crepes and
filled with sunflower cheese spread.
I make my mung bean crepes soaked with an acidic or fermenting medium, like apple cider vinegar, kombucha, water kefir, etc... to make it more digestible, but that part can be skipped if you're short on time or don't care about the digestibility.
If you don't have mung bean flour, you can also make this by soaking whole mung beans in water overnight, and then blending it up in the food processor/blender with a bit of water, then adding as much water as needed to make a crepe batter. If you're not gluten free, you can replace the brown rice flour with wheat flour.

You can find mung beans in any Asian grocery store, in health food stores, and even many supermarkets. Mung bean flour is a little harder to find, but you can make your own if you have a grinder, or buy it online and in some Asian stores.



Ingredients:
2 cups mung bean flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour or wheat (whole or white) or spelt flour
2 cups water
1/2 cup water kefir, kombucha, or 1/4 cup vinegar/lemon juice and 1/4 cup water
1/3 cup water
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder

Instructions:
1. Mix the mung bean flour with the rice/wheat flour and 2 cups water and 1/2 cup water kefir, kombucha, or lemon juice/vinegar and more water.

2. Cover, and let sit out of the fridge overnight/for at least 10 hours, preferably 12..

3. Add more water, salt, and garlic powder.

4. Lightly lightly grease a non stick pan- I use my seasoned cast iron skillet- and heat up on a medium/high flame.

5. Pour a little batter (I use about half a cup) into the pan, turning the pan around so that the crepe mixture covers the entire bottom in a thin layer.

6. When it starts pulling away from the sides, stick a spatula underneath, and flip over and cook on the other side for about 10 seconds.

7. Remove from fire, and cook the rest of this batter this way. I find I tend to need to add more oil every 3 or 4 crepes- when the crepes start not coming out easily, that's when you need to add more.

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8. Use as you would any crepes, tortillas, or flatbreads.

Have you ever cooked with mung beans before? Ever hear of mung bean crepes? Does this look like a recipe you'd try out?
What is your favorite way to use crepes or tortillas?

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8 comments:

  1. How long do these crepes keep for please?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wondering what mung bean flour is? Is it just ground mungbeans? Could I cook them and smash them? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Its ground while raw, so cooked and smashed wont work the same, i'm sorry.

      Delete
  3. I love the simplicity and beauty of this dish...

    ReplyDelete
  4. The above given recipe is really very nice. It is easy and tastes good. Thanks for such a great recipe.

    ReplyDelete
  5. bummed to see RICE and WHEAT in this recipe =(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rice or wheat. Rice to keep it gluten free, wheat if you arent concerned about being gluten free. I like to provide multiple options.

      Delete

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