Continuing my Asian adventure with a kimchi pancake. Kimchi is Korean fermented spicy cabbage, which is a real staple of Korean cuisine. It can be used as a side dish of its own or be added to a variety of dishes like this one. When added to pancake batter, it gives it not only the flavour, but also it makes it beautifully orange. While ready-made kimchi is more and more readily available in Europe, it is actually much nicer and cheaper if done by yourself (it takes a few days but it is worth it). Kimchi is not only sour but also very spicy, yet the pancake batter works to cool it down. That's why it pairs well with the spiciness of shichimi hogarashi (Japanese 7 spice mix) and the sweetness of the brown sauce.
5 spoons of wheat flour1 egg
50gr of kimchi
shiitake mushrooms
a beef steak
Japanese 7 spice mix (shichimi togarashi)
yuzu powder
Japanese brown sauce
spring onion (for decoration)
1. Prepare the pancake batter by mixing the flour and the egg with some water. You will want to make the batter slightly denser than the batter for french pancakes, since the juice from kimchi will water it down a bit. Add the kimchi (cut into smaller pieces if using whole leaf kimchi) to the batter and put aside.
2. Warm up some oil on a pan and fry your steak seasoning it with shichimi togarashi, yuzu and some salt. Once done to your liking, put it aside to rest.
3. Slice the shiitake mushrooms and fry them on the same pan as the steak. To add variety to the plate one could also add shimeji mushrooms, but in covid times one has to deal with what's available.
4. Fry the pancakes on a separate small pan. Due to the fact that the batter has kimchi in it, it is more easily breakable, similarly to okonomiyaki, so making them on a bigger pan might be more of a challenge. Thus, be careful when turning them over.
5. Slice your beef and start assembling the ingredients together. Pour some brown sauce over the pancake, beef and the mushrooms et voila!
2. Warm up some oil on a pan and fry your steak seasoning it with shichimi togarashi, yuzu and some salt. Once done to your liking, put it aside to rest.
3. Slice the shiitake mushrooms and fry them on the same pan as the steak. To add variety to the plate one could also add shimeji mushrooms, but in covid times one has to deal with what's available.
4. Fry the pancakes on a separate small pan. Due to the fact that the batter has kimchi in it, it is more easily breakable, similarly to okonomiyaki, so making them on a bigger pan might be more of a challenge. Thus, be careful when turning them over.
5. Slice your beef and start assembling the ingredients together. Pour some brown sauce over the pancake, beef and the mushrooms et voila!
Itadakimasu!
