I’ve never been a big fan of pancakes, until I discovered the Asian way of making pancakes. First Okonomiyaki, this Japanese pancake stuffed with “whatever you like”, which is normally a combination of vegetables, meat and seafood (click here for my version) and now this Korean pancake, stuffed with kimchi. I like kimchi a lot, but somehow it never fits with the way we eat lunch or dinner, so we hardly ever eat it. But with this recipe I’m sure we will eat kimchi more often. Packed full of flavor, great for lunch, fingerfood or quick dinner (especially when you have leftover mashed potatoes).
RECIPE
(for 2 small eaters, I’d double it next time)
1 potato
splash of milk
90 g mat kimchi (simply made from napa cabbage)
50 g firm tofu (as available in supermarkets)
25 g flour (I prefer the light bapao flour, but any kind will do)
1 egg
1 t grated garlic
1 T vegetable oil
salt & pepper
1. Boil the potato, then make mash with a little bit of milk.
2. Squeeze the kimchi to remove as much liquid as you can.
3. Squeeze the tofu, then crumble.
4. Combine in big bowl the mashed potato, kimchi, tofu, flour, egg, garlic, pepper and salt. Be careful with the salt though, the kimchi is already pretty salty.
5. The recipe I used said to combine it with your hands, but I’m sure a spoon will do fine as well. And although I didn’t have lumps, maybe next time I would mix the egg and flour first or dust the flour over the other ingredients. I use bapao flour, which is nice and fluffy. Be aware that the mixture is quite “wet”.
6. Heat a pan, add some vegetable oil and add big spoonfuls of the pancake mixture. Sculpture with your spoon into nice little, round pancakes (about 1 cm thick). Bake for about 2-3 minutes per side until more than golden.
The recipe said to serve it with a dip of 3T soy, 1t lemon juice and ½t sesame oil but I think there must be something better. My partner liked it with sweet chili, but I’m not convinced. So suggestions are welcome and I will come back on this. Maybe with something completely non-Asian like sour cream ;-).
From: Korean Cooking (De Koreaanse Keuken) by Young Jin Song
Kok Robin 
OK, I will try them. They certainly look tasty!
I make Korean pancakes in a slightly different way; shredded raw potatoes with hot peppers, spring onions and some flour. I eat them with a soy based dipping sauce and kimchee on the side…
Yes, please try! Especially as you’re already a kimchi-fan. I’m curious to hear how you’ll like it. And shredded raw potatoes in your pancakes, does that mean the result will be like a rösti?
Ik hou het even niet bij met recepten. Vrijdag kocht ik tofu bij de Oriëntal voor een ander recept van jou, lees ik dit. Klinkt goed! Ik ken kimchi alleen van Koreaanse restaurants, nooit zelf gemaakt.
Ah, ik kan ook smokkelen met blik, pak of pot zie ik nu op tokowijzer :-)
Ja, uiteraard! En dat is geen smokkelen hoor, dat is vrij normaal, dat je kant-en-klare kimchi gebruikt. Die kimchi uit blik is volgens mij niet zo lekker, daarom staat die hier nog in de kast, geen zin gehad uit te proberen, ahum. Hoewel het in zo’n pannenkoek misschien niet zo op zou vallen dat ie minder lekker is, maar als je het toch gaat kopen, koop dan zo’n pot of zak! Die zijn namelijk van zichzelf al gewoon lekker.
Ga je Mapo Tofu maken? Leuk.
Ja die tofu ligt er al vast (merk: Unicurd Food), dan nog die kippenlevers voor A. en ook nog dit recept maar dan moet ik dus nog even een pot of zak van die kimchi halen.