James Van Der Beek's Famous Pancake Recipe Uses An Unexpected Asian Ingredient

You may not have considered this, but pancakes are an extremely versatile meal. They're perfect for a quick weekday breakfast and an ideal choice for a leisurely weekend brunch, although some people would say that it's a popular breakfast menu item that's too overpriced to order at restaurants. For the late actor James Van Der Beek, pancakes weren't just easy-to-make breakfast food; they were also essential to beating jet lag. How? The "Dawson's Creek" alum packed his pancakes with an unexpected Asian ingredient: mung beans.

Van Der Beek once detailed his pancake recipe via Instagram Stories after flying home from London, revealing that his jet lag fix was never complete without the legume. He incorporated the beans into his pancakes by boiling them with rice and then blending them into the batter. For those who want to recreate his recipe, the actor shared a tip for removing the beans' shells. "When you boil the mung beans, the shells come off so you kinda just pick them out," he said (via People). For added flavor, Van Der Beek added chopped dates into the mixture before blending with the pancake batter.

It's unclear how or when the actor decided to mix mung beans into his pancakes. In one Instagram post, however, he admitted to testing out different ingredients to make it healthier. He certainly found that in mung beans: The legume is rich in vitamins and antioxidants and can help lower cholesterol. It's also loaded with protein — one cup contains 14.2 grams — which studies have found can help to reset the body's circadian rhythms when traveling.

Native to Asia, mung bean is commonly used in sweet and savory dishes across the region, especially in India, China, Thailand, Korea, and the Philippines, where it is considered the poor man's meat because of its rich protein content. It's also the main ingredient in one of the contenders of our great plant-based egg taste test.

Flavor-wise, mung is similar to other beans, with earthy and nutty undertones. The only difference is that mung beans also taste sweet, which is why they are an ingredient in many desserts. It makes sense, then, why James Van Der Beek preferred his pancakes fused with this legume. The beans added greatly to the sweetness provided by the chopped dates and other ingredients, like cinnamon powder and syrup topping.

If you want to try your hand at this pancake recipe, you don't need to soak the beans overnight, thoughsome recipes recommend this step. As Van Der Beek pointed out, their shells easily come off with a quick simmer, keeping prep time to a minimum. If you're tired of the same-old three-ingredient morning pancakes, consider Van Der Beek's recipe as a surefire way to elevate your breakfast meal — and maybe help you get some sleep after a long trip, too.