Not pretty, but tasted good!

I tried a new recipe last night that didn't quite look the way it was supposed to, but it was damn tasty. It was a Korean pancake filled with veggies and shrimp. The pancake was more like a crepe. The recipe is soooo simple but the execution of the recipe is what got me :) Let me explain.... I went a little crazy with the filling. I added way more things that what was on the recipe. So after using half of my fridge for the fillings, I realized that I should have cooked it differently. The dish was very tasty, but it looked like a pile of food. Okay, not that bad, but it didn't look anything like the picture on the internet :)



Korean PancakeMake one 9-inch (23cm) pancake
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2008/05/korean_pancakes_1.html

There's plenty of variations on this recipe and you can certainly make your own up, using some of my suggestions above. A large spatula works best for flipping it, although you can slide it onto a dinner plate and flip it that way, or even cut it in half, then flip each piece separately.Next I'm going to experiment using sparkling water, or maybe add a pour of beer in place of some of the water.

1/2 cup (70g) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (125ml) ice-cold water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large or extra-large egg, lightly beaten
1 bunch of scallions
a spoonful of soy sauce
optional: dried red pepper slices
vegetable oil, for frying

Dana's Additions to the recipe: 1/2 chopped onion, 1/2 chopped tomatos, 1 chopped garlic clove, 4 slices of jalapeno, chopped up. I also used appromixatly 20 small shrimp


1. Stir together the flour, water and salt until just mixed.

2. Chop the green parts of the scallions into 3-inch (10cm) lengths. Reserve the white parts for another use.

3. Heat a thin layer of vegetable oil in a 9 or 10-inch (23-26cm) skillet, preferably non-stick, until hot. Fry the scallions until they're completely cooked through and soft. Add a touch of soy sauce to the pan when they're almost done, to season the scallions. * This is where I added all of my veggies that I listed above

4. If using other ingredients, any vegetables, kimchi, or prawns—what have you‐add them now, then toss a few times to heat them through. *I took the veggies out of the pan and added the shrimp to cook. I sprinkled cajun seasoning over the shrimp to give it some spice.

5. Pour the pancake batter over the scallions (and other stuff in the pan), spreading the batter, and cook a few minutes until the bottom is nice and brown underneath. Lift the edge to peek. * This is where my problems started. Since I used so many veggies, the batter did not go to the bottom to cook. I ended up transferring the food to a bigger pan, and tried to flip it in the process. It kind of worked, but the food ended up seperating, which caused the pancake to break apart.

6. Pour the beaten egg on top then swirl the pan to even out the egg a bit, still keeping it pretty uneven. Distribute the dried pepper strands over the egg, if using, and cook until the egg is just beginning to firm near the edges. * I almost didn't do this since the batter didn't really work. But I decided to try it... but I did a little different. I added two eggs (one didn't cover the top) then flipped the sucker again. Flipping this was not easy, and I ended up cutting it into two pieces to make it easier to flip. I'm glad that I did it because it was well worth it.

7. Using a wide spatula, flip the pancake and cook for another minute or two until the egg is set and preferably crispy at the edges. (I tend it cook it pretty well, although I like hard-cooked fried eggs, which I know ain't "gourmet", so use your judgment.) *I never got to this part, but see above for what I did

5. Slide pancake onto a cutting board, then cool to room temperature. Cut into six or eight wedges, and serve with dipping sauce made by mixing 3 parts soy sauce with 1-2 parts rice vinegar and a few drops of sesame oil. A bit of chile oil can also be added. *we at this hot because we were hungry. Like I said,,, this wasn't pretty to look at, but it tasted soooooo good. I plan on doing this again trying various combinations of fillings.