My friend Paige and I recently had a rewarding trip to the Farmers' Market. She went home and made perilla kim chi, and I came home and make gumbo and fig leaf wine. Exchanges were made.
The kim chi is delicious, and I was craving something crispy with which to start of my extended weekend eating, so I decided to make my version of a spicy Korean vegetable pancake. It turned out well and you can certainly substitute any veggies that you have on hand. This week's CSA box yielded many beautiful late summer vegetables but it the rainbow chard that caught my eye when planning to make this. I think the pops of red from those leaves that turned red upon cooking added to the visual appeal of the dish, not that I admired it for long as I was too busy greedily stuffing it down my throat.
1/4 cup white flour
1 Tbsp cornstarch
2 - 3 Tbsps ice cold water
1 cup finely chopped swiss chard (stems removed)
1/3 cup chopped scallion, green onion or garlic chives
2 Tbsps kim chi, finely chopped
1-2 tsps vegetable oil
Salt to taste
Whisk the flour, cornstarch, a pinch of salt and the water together in a bowl. You want to end up with a batter with the consistency of pancake batter. Start with two tablespoons of water but, if like me, you keep your flour in the freezer, you may need more.
Stir the vegetables and the kim chi into the batter just until they are combined and everything has a thin coating of batter.
Set aside while you heat one teaspoon of the oil in a small nonstick frying pan. As soon as the oil is hot, lower the heat to as low as you possibly can.
Scrape the veggie-batter mixture into the pan and press down to create an even layer.
Cook for four minutes on very low before flipping the pancake and repeating on the other side. If the pan is dry, add the remainder of the oil.
Remove to a paper towel lined plate and blot gently to remove excess oil.
Cut into quarters and serve as is with a sprinkle of salt or with a dipping sauce of plain soy sauce or, as I did, one made by combining equal amounts of soy sauce and black vinegar.