RECIPE: KIMCHI PANCAKE

Kimchi pancake (Kimchi jeon 김치전)

The contrast of the slightly sour, crunchy kimchi with the chewy batter, make these pancakes totally unique. They can be whipped up really quickly, and are great with slightly older, mature kimchi. I find a little glutinous rice flour gives the pancake an added crispiness, however if you only have plain flour that is absolutely fine, just use 140g in total.

INGREDIENTS

Batter

150g kimchi 

100g plain flour (while spelt flour also works very well)

40g glutinous rice flour (see intro above)

3 tbsp kimchi liquid

good pinch of sea salt

9 tbsp water

7 tsp vegetable oil

Dipping sauce

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp rice wine vinegar

pinch of roasted sesame seeds

pinch of gochugaru chili powder (optional)

(Serves 2)

DIRECTIONS

Cut up the kimchi into bite size pieces. Place in a large bowl, together with the rest of the batter ingredients (apart from the vegetable oil), and mix until just combined into a thick batter. 

Add the dipping sauce ingredients to a small bowl and combine. 

Place 6 tsp of the oil in a large 12” non-stick pan over a high heat. When hot pour in the batter and smooth out to the edge of the pan with the back of a spoon - this will take a little effort, as the batter is thick. Fry for 3 minutes until golden and crispy, then flip over and drizzle the remaining 1 tsp of oil around the side of the pancake. Fry until golden and crispy, then slide onto a plate or board, cut into squares and serve immediately with the dipping sauce. 

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Recipe courtesy of "Our Korean Kitchen" by Jordan Bourke and Rejina Pyo - click here to purchase.