Month: March 2019

Recently, Jeremy and I went to one of our favorite restaurants, Sushi Na-Ra. It is lent season, so on Fridays only: we can’t eat meat, so it seemed like the perfect place to go before the movies. As we were looking over the menu, we saw what looked like a giant pancake. However, this was no ordinary pancake. It was a kimchi pancake, and it was nothing like the buttery, sweet cakes we eat here in America  like these. So we decided to try it out. As I always say, when you go out to eat, it’s the perfect chance to try something new. -I never had sea urchin before. Now, it’s something I want my mom to taste, since she loves lobster tomalley.- It may be the best thing you’ve ever had. If not, you never have to order it again.

In Korean, Jeon (전) are a type of pancake made with a variety of ingredients (fish, meat, vegetables, etc.) mixed with egg and flour and fried until crispy. The one we had had kimchi in it (otherwise known as kimchijeon – 김치전 or kimchibuchimgae – 김치부침개). They can be eaten either as a snack, a side dish, or as an appetizer, and are relatively easy to make. Looking over recipes (from The Spruce Eats or Maangchi) it seems really quick, even more so than the regular pancakes. The key to each, as these websites and others talk about, is to make sure the kimchi is really juicy.

Our waitress informed us that they are popular over in South Korea and that they are a wide variety of different types of Jeon. The Wikipedia page confirms this with a relatively large list of different types – ones with seafood, – Perfect for Lent  ones with meat in it, great protein perks   scallion-based ones, etc.

When our order arrived it looked and smelt great, a hint of brininess but golden brown with a side of something like soy sauce. We picked it apart with chopsticks piece by piece like real South Koreans do. It’s much harder than fork and knife, but that’s why chopsticks are still used. It makes you slow down and enjoy your food rather than stabbing at it and shoveling everything in your mouth at once. Eating slowly is good for easy digestion. On that note, Lauren, people claim that kimchi is good for you. Fermented vegetables good bacteria and vitamins are productive for digestion.

When I used to teach ESL, I helped a lot of Korean students out while practicing their English. As a way of thank you, they would often make Korean dishes for me to try. They tended to have a lot of seafood and a lot of spice to them – perfect for me, but not so much for Lauren, though the seafood part is perfect for the two of us to try. While Sushi Na-Ra is a Korean restaurant, they are more focused on artful sushi dishes (which are all excellent and easy on the wallet, FYI). Check out these pics we took last summer:

Since none of my old students are around (or in the country for that matter), we’re looking for recommendations for places serving various Korean foods.

If anyone knows of an option in the NY capitol region, we will visit ASAP and post all about it. 

You have no idea how many pancakes there are in the world. Buckwheat, tamales, buttermilk, griddle cakes and silver dollars are only a few. My personal favorite are French pancakes. Crepes are very similar to these because they’re full of egg and with such a silky smooth batter, they lay out very thin, but these are slightly thicker. The recipe is so easy, I made them from the 1950 Rumford cookbook as a first-timer in the kitchen by myself. It’s awesome to make something for the first time by yourself! These make roughly 8 small pancakes.

The trick is to make sure you have sifted everything as finely as you can. Most flours come sifted in the bag. Less clumps means thinner batter. I’ve tried using almond milk once when we ran out of milk. It was loaded with almond flavor. What would happen with chocolate milk? I’m not so sure about that one because eggs and milk are the first things I usually taste here. Chocolate Reese’s eggs are one thing. Chocolate with eggs in the same mouthful is another.

Once the butter is melted in and the egg is mixed in with the milk, you can leisurely stir the liquid in with the dry. Better Home and Garden recommends making a crater in your dry bowl and pouring your wets inside, pulling and pushing everything together into one smooth blend. Lumps and bumps of flour in your pancakes will taste powdery and dry. If you want to deviate from recipe and add a few pinches of herbs like tarragon, rosemary, basil or mint go for it! Chocolate chips and fruit pieces are best saved for thicker cake-like recipes without the eggs.

 

The surface you pour it on will matter too, how you want to have them look at the end depends how they form here. If you want, this is where people usually put the batter in a squeeze bottle and make pictures out of it. Don’t try to pour it into letters, or try to make lines without the bottle. It makes a round blob every time, especially if you try to pour it slowly. Just wait for the bubbles and a firmness to the edges before you flip.

It’s really romantic to write your lover’s name in pancakes. What about “Happy Mothers’ Day”, “Good luck”, or “Congrats”. It’s a very nice personal touch. As for dressing the pancakes, usually that comes with food coloring, fruit, whipped cream and syrups. Lauren did a pancake tower covered in fruit slices and maple syrup once for me as a treat. It was so delicious, I ate it without taking the photo. SORRY!

This is what you can do with colored pancake batter and a million practice batters: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCa0BnCIDBGzmw4daUGZ0yg

Maybe we’re not ready for THAT yet. But either way, these pancakes are a keeper even after almost 70 years.