Food: Korean and Kim Chee Pancake

Hello! I still haven't really had the time to figure out the workings of tabs on Blogger, so I apologize in advance to people that will/have clicked on the "Food" tab.

But I am not going to let that stop me from posting any of my adventures in trying out and/or making of Korean cuisine. Including my first introduction to Korean food, kim chee.

I first tried out kim chee when I was about 14 years old. It was the vinegary bottled stuff that you find in the regular supermarkets. Pale cabbage cause it was sitting in the vinegary mixture for so long, faintly spicy. Not bad, but not great either.

I was later introduced to the fresher, crispier, spicier version and the much more fermented version in my college years while eating out late with friends after many study sessions. These, I absolutely came to love! There's something about biting into the saltiness and spiciness of the cabbage that woke my senses (and cleared my nostrils) and made my mouth water. Truly heaven.

Kim Chee Pancake aka Kim Chee Jeon

On one of my traipses through town, I discovered a Korean bar/restaurant that, from what I was told, served up tasty Korean dishes and flavored soju. A friend had just gotten married so while we were spending time with the bridal party, we decided to go to this restaurant. Here they served the yummiest watermelon soju and...something called "kim chee pancakes" or "kim chee jeon"! Fresh kim chee, in my favorite breakfast food, what's not to love?

Let me just say that korean pancake versus a regular buttermilk or batter pancake is way different.

Korean pancakes are:
- savory
- incorporate a meat, seafood or vegetable
- involves no butter
- no milk
- crispier
- served as an appetizer (or what we would call a "pupu" in Hawaii)

It was absolutely delicious! I wanted to know how to make it, it was just that good.

Now I've seen these pancakes cooked different ways. An ahjumma ("Aunty" or "lady" in Korean) had shown me how to cook her green onion pancake in a little nook in one of the Korean markets I frequent. It involved flour, green onion, sesame oil and egg. Very easy.

But I wanted spicy pancakes, I wanted the kim chee pancake that I had that one time! I was on a mission to find the recipe, and lo and behold, one of my favorite bloggers, Maangchi, had a very easy recipe. All it took was kim chee, a bit of kim chee juice, flour, oil for frying, chopped onion, salt and sugar.

In the fry pan with a little too much oil. Crispy!

My first attempt was a bit oily, probably because of all the oil I used, but the second attempt was much better. I was ecstatic! It tasted just like the kim chee pancake I had! I was so happy, I ate more than half of the pancakes alone, all by myself. Yup, I was a little piggy! But I was a happy piggy!

I also had a bit of pancake mix on hand, so I used that instead of the flour. I didn't add any other seasoning since it was already pre-seasoned. It was just as delicious! But I noticed that it made the pancakes a little bit fluffier and crispier.

If you ever want to try making your own, I highly recommend it. I had to pay $10 for just a little dish that I had to share. Make your own, make it the way you want it, and you can decide if you want to share it! =) The recipe is in the link above. And if you want to check out more Korean recipes, I highly suggest Maangchi's site.