My best friend Jordan is gluten intolerant so I’m always have half an eye on food items that are gluten-free. This also serves as a great excuse to explore ingredients that I’d normally wouldn’t think to use. This particular recipe utilizes a little bit of mung bean flour, which is actually a powdery starch.
Being from a Vietnamese household, I pretty much always have dried mung bean and fresh cilantro on hand, so these fritters are easy and quick to whip up (that is if you preplan and remember to soak the beans the night before). They have quite a kick to them, which you can amp up or mute as you wish (though I think it’s best not to omit the spice completely). They are crunchy, savory, and are fun to eat.
Mung bean fritters with cilantro chutney
Recipe Type: Appetizer
Cuisine: Indian
Author:
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 6
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup split and hulled mung bean (should be yellow, not green)
- 1 large shallot, finely diced
- 2 red Thai chiles, finely sliced
- 1 1/2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
- 2 tablespoons cilantro, roughly chopped
- 2 1/2 tbsp water
- 1/4 tsp salt
- Pinch baking soda
- 2 tablespoons mung bean flour (all purpose flour [no longer gluten-free], potato flour, or corn starch can be substituted).
- Oil for deep frying
- 1 clove garlic
- Pinch of salt
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1 cup packed cilantro, with stems
- 2 tbsp lime juice
Instructions
- Soak the dried mung beans in water overnight so that they are soft and yield beneath the pressure of your fingers.
- The day after, drain the beans in a sieve and put in a food processor. Sprinkle the water in, add salt, and blend on high speed to combine. Scrap down the sides once and blend again. You want the mixture to look like hummus.
- Add flour and baking soda. Pulse a few times to incorporate it well.
- Take it out of the processor and transfer to a bowl. Fold in shallots, chile slices, cilantro, and ginger.
- Heat up 2 inches of oil in a Dutch oven, wok, tall sided sauce pan to 320 degrees. Line paper towels or newspapers underneath an upside-down cooling rack, which will wick oil from the hot fritters once they come out of the pan.
- Drop fritters by the spoonful into the hot oil. Fry fritters no more than six at a time, taking care not to crowd the pan. Flip them over so all sides get fried. You’ll know they’re done once they float to the top. Pull them out with a slotted spoon (or chopsticks if you’re used to using them!). Let them drain on the rack. Repeat with the rest of the batter. Serve hot with cilantro chutney.
- To make the chutney: In a small food processor (or if you’re up for a lot of chopping by hand), process garlic, salt, sugar, and cilantro until fine and clumpy. Add lime juice. Easy!
My grandmother made these. I had no idea this is Indian. No wonder I can’t find a vietnamese recipe for it.