Kathmandu Valley (Newar) · 75 min · Vegan · Main course · For confident cooks
Wo
In German: Gebackene Linsenpasteten
For 4 servings · US units
Crisp mung bean cakes from the Newar kitchen, fried golden in a shallow pan
Wo — also called Bara — comes from the Newar kitchen of the Kathmandu Valley, and at heart it's nothing more than soaked mung beans, coarsely ground and fried into flat cakes in a little oil. Crisp at the edges, soft inside, warm with ginger and garlic, they fill you up without a spoonful of flour and taste good at any hour of the day. With onion confit or a simple salad alongside, two or three cakes make a proper meal.
Ingredients
- 8¾ ozmung beansdried, soaked overnight; lentils as alternative
- 1Onionfinely ground or chopped
- 2 clovesGarlicmade into a paste
- 2 tspGingeras paste, into the mixture
- 2Carrotfinely ground
- 3 tbspOilfor frying
- Saltto taste, into the mixture
- pepperto taste
- 1¾ ozwalnutschopped, mixed in; sunflower seeds as alternative (optional)
- 1 tbspdried porcinisoaked, for savoury depth (optional)
- 4¼ cupsWaterfor soaking the pulses
Method
- Soak the dried mung beans in plenty of water for at least 5 to 6 hours, ideally overnight. If you don't have mung beans, lentils work too.
- Drain the soaked beans and rinse them well, rubbing some of the skins loose between your palms and floating them off with the water.
- Grind the beans in a blender with salt, ginger paste and garlic paste to a thick, spreadable paste. It shouldn't be runny — it should cling to the spoon.
- Finely chop or grind the carrots and onion separately, then stir them into the bean paste. Season with salt and pepper.
- If you like, toast the chopped walnuts briefly and mix them in; chop the soaked porcini small and stir them through as well — they give the mixture a savoury depth.
- Heat a shallow pan with a little oil over medium heat. Drop in about 2 tablespoons of the mixture per cake and spread it from the centre outwards with the back of the spoon into rounds of 10 to 12 cm.
- Turn the heat down and fry the cakes gently until the underside is crisp and golden brown. Flip them, add a little more oil and finish the second side.
- Serve the Wo hot, straight from the pan if you can, and fry the rest of the mixture in batches.
Tips and variations
Instead of frying, you can bake the mixture in the oven at 170 to 180 °C for about 20 to 45 minutes. It also takes well to a wrapping: a thin flour-and-stock dough to roll it up in, or puff pastry as a lid for a pie. For more binding, fold in some stiffly whipped aquafaba. The seasoning is open — turmeric, paprika, tomato paste, mustard and cider vinegar work as happily as masala and thyme. Serve with onion confit or a salad.
Allergens
May contain if you use the optional ingredients: Tree nuts
Not every ingredient in this recipe has been checked, so nothing is promised as free from.
These notes follow from this recipe's ingredient list. Ready-made products and brands may contain further allergens — please check the packaging yourself.
Something not right?
This recipe was put together from independent sources and checked before publishing. Even so, a mistake can slip through — an amount that does not add up, a step that does not work as written. If you spot something, write to us: we will look into it and put it right.
