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Kimchi Pancakes, who would have thought these would be so delicious?
Aaahhh…
Another day, another recipe and another opportunity to experience the glory of wholefood cooking.
I got the idea for this recipe from Ivette from FMTV ( Food Matters TV). At first, I thought “Hmmm, Kimchi pancakes?” but then, I love kimchi, I love pancakes, so why not put these two together! The end result, as you can guess were savoury and flavour-packed pancakes that you and your family will absolutely adore.
As always, I try to keep my recipes simple because cooking should be easy and trust me, these pancakes are ready to eat in 15 minutes. They are egg-free, dairy-free, gluten-free and are just epic and good for nourishing your organs.
Let’s Get This Kimchi Pancake Flavour Party Started!
As with any other pancakes, you will first prepare the batter. The ingredients I start with are gluten-free flour, water and salt and pepper as our building blocks of flavour. The brand of gluten-free flour I use already has a rising agent but if yours doesn’t, don’t forget to add just a teaspoon of baking powder or bicarb soda; otherwise, your pancakes may end up being soggy.
When you get rid of all the lumps in the batter, you just need to mix in kimchi and some spring onions, which will add a yummy flavour; they are sweet and delicious and will balance out the pickle kimchi flavour.
A quick note on kimchi – I always prefer homemade one because the kimchi you can find in regular stores in full of fish or soy sauce when in reality, the only ingredients that you want in your kimchi are vegetables and salt and maybe sometimes a bit of ginger and turmeric. So, if you don’t know how to make your own kimchi, try to get one from health food stores and check the labels.
The last bit is frying your pancakes, which will take about 5-6 minutes. What I noticed when I fry pancakes, fritters or hash browns is that they tend to soak oil and then you don’t get to feel the real flavour of the ingredients. So, I came up with one trick! Check out a video on my YouTube channel to see what I do to fry pancakes perfectly with only a dash of oil.
Flavour-Packed Sauce To Bring Your Kimchi Pancakes Home
This dressing is really simple but it has everything it needs to create an explosion of flavours with every bite. It’s sweet, salty, divine and it bursts with ginger fragrance that goes really well with the kimchi flavour.
I use really simple ingredients to make it – maple syrup for sweetness, umeboshi plum vinegar for saltiness, ginger for fragrance, and sesame seed to balance everything out. I also like to add tamari for the sake of getting that typical Asian aroma.
And that’s it!
The sauce is not very liquidy but not very thick as well; it resembles salad dressings in texture but it adds a whole lot of flavour to the pancakes.
Kimchi Pancakes Recipe!
Ingredients
For the Dressing
- 1 Tbsp Maple Syrup
- 1 Tbsp Tamari
- 1 Tbsp Sesame Seed Oil
- 1 Tbsp Ginger, grated
- 1 Tbsp Umeboshi Plum Vinegar
For the Pancakes
- 1 cup Gluten-Free Flour*
- 1 cup Water
- 1/2 tsp Salt
*If your GF flour doesn’t have a raising agent, add 1 tsp baking powder or bicarb soda
- 1/2 tsp Black Pepper
- 2 Large Spring Onions, thinly sliced
- 1 1/2 cups Kimchi, roughly chopped
- 2 Tbsp Coconut Oil
- 1 tsp #JOY
For the Garnish
- Fresh Coriander
- 1/4 Purple Cabbage, roughly chopped
- 1 Red Chili, sliced
Method
To prepare the dressing:
- Whisk together all the ingredients and set aside.
To prepare the pancakes:
- Mix together the flour, water, salt, and pepper.
- Add the spring onion and kimchi and stir to combine and until a batter is formed.
- Taste and season if needed.
- Heat a pan on medium and add the coconut oil.
- Pour 1/3 cup of the batter and cook for 2 minutes.
- Flip and cook on the other side until brown.
- Repeat with the remaining batter.
- Top the pancakes with the garnish, drizzle with the dressing and serve.
Serves: 2
Prep time: 5 mins
Cooking time: 10-15 mins
Freezer-friendly: No
C, GF, DF, RSF, NF, VEG, V
These pancakes are perfect as a snack or if you are transitioning to wholefood diet, this is a type of a meal that will keep you going. Besides the dressing, I like to serve my kimchi pancakes with crispy, thinly sliced purple cabbage, sprinkled with some gomasio, which gives a nice crunch to the dish.
What do you serve your kimchi pancakes with? Let me know!
From my kitchen to yours,
Chef Cynthia Louise
