Bindae-tteok, or mung bean pancake, is a type of buchimgae that originated in the Pyongan Province. It is made by grinding soaked mung beans, adding vegetables and meat and pan-frying it into a round, flat shape.
Bindae-tteok first appears under the name binja (빈쟈) in the Guidebook of Homemade Food and Drinks, a 1670 cookbook written by Jang Gye-hyang.[5] The word appears to be derived from bingjya (빙쟈), the Middle Korean transcription of the Chinese word 餠𩜼, whose first character is pronounced bǐng in Chinese and means "round and flat pancake-like food".[6][7] The pronunciation and the meaning of the second letter are unknown.[8] Tteok (떡) means a steamed, boiled, or pan-fried cake; usually a rice cake but in this case a pancake.
During the Joseon era (1392–1897), richer households would dispense bindae-tteok to poorer people gathered outside the South Great Gate of Seoul during times of hardship.