I was looking up some recipes to make for another episode of Tastes of Asia, and I decided that Korean kimchi mung bean pancakes would be a relatively easy and straightforward recipe to film, as I already had all the ingredients available at home. What I actually did not realize, though, as I was researching mung bean pancakes, is that this dish is a very common dish that is served during Korean New Year during the Lunar New Year period in Korea, as it’s considered auspicious to eat mung beans to welcome in the new year. I had no idea about this, as while mung beans are certainly eaten in China and in Vietnam, they’ve never really been on a “list” of things that you “must” eat during the new year period in either of my native cultures. But that actually makes it even more timely to film and upload because this can be considered a new year’s dish to make!