Korean Pancakes

The marathon continues on day 5 and the marathon cooks seem to be dipping into their pantries today to use grains, flours and vegetables in so many ways.

Starting with some grains that are pantry staples on their own and as noodles and flours-

Oats: granola mix

Rice: rice walnut risotto and "dirty" rice

Broken wheat: comforting soupy dalia

Noodles: vermicelli as seviyan halwa and rice noodles as veggie noodle nests

Wheat flour: versatile in savory breads like rosemary bread, Moglai parota, peas paratha, aloo paratha and sweets like eggless chocolate cake and butterscotch cherry blondies

Chickpea flour or besan is a staple in many Indian kitchens, used in homely and comforting dishes like cabbage pithla, pakora kadhi and a light baked version of the same.

Many of us stock Eggs and Paneer (Indian cheese) in our fridges. Here, eggs are used in a vegetable omelette and paneer is used in paneer tikka masala, chole paneer, Schezuan chilli paneer gravy and a tandoori platter.

From the vegetable crisper, we have carrot bhaji, palak methi masoor dal, kaddu ki dalcha, raw banana fritters, kale wadis, vegetable cheese balls and two versions of ennai kathrikkai or stuffed eggplants, a dry preparation and a curried one.

I don't know about you, but Indian-style spicy pickles are the star of my pantry; I dollop them on everything. And here we have an instant cut mango pickle.

Let's end on a sweet note- gulab jamuns made from scratch.

As an aside, it is very freaky that every day, 2-3 of the participants seem to make the same dish (like the 3 lentil soups yesterday and today's double helping of kadhi pakora and stuffed eggplants). Of course, each recipe is unique but...are we mind readers or what?!


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So it has been quite an eventful day at the headquarters of One Hot Stove. There's a major plumbing problem with the kitchen plumbing in our building. To make a very long (and highly boring) story short, the wall between the kitchen and the living room now has a scary gaping hole with exposed pipes. The water has been shut off. Everything is covered in a thick layer of white dust from construction material. I went to work and escaped the chaos. V has the week off to relax(!) and got to deal with the situation all day (and probably the next couple of days as well). Instead of cooking up the lovely recipe I had planned for tonight, we dined on Vietnamese take-out.

But the marathon must go on! Luckily, I took a pic of my brunch yesterday and here it is.

Recipe #3 is Korean Pancakes, and they can be whipped up in minutes from pantry staples. Regular all-purpose flour, rice flour, egg and cold water are whipped into a batter, shredded veggies are tossed in for good measure, and you have crisp pancakes, ready to be dipped into a sauce bursting with umami-ness (or it is umamihood?)

The inspiring recipes were from here and here.

Here's how I made it.

Whisk together
-½ cup rice flour
-1 cup AP flour
-1 egg
-splash of soy sauce
-shredded vegetables (I used scallions and carrots)
-ice-cold water as required to make a smooth batter

Make thin pancakes, flipping to get both sides cooked.

Don't skip the dipping sauce, it makes the dish.

Simply mix chili sauce (I use sambal oelek), soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, honey, toasted sesame oil to taste.

I'll be back tomorrow, with or without a kitchen! :D