[Korean Recipes] Radish Pancakes

I found a piece of Korean Radish Pancakes in the back of vegetables tray of my refrigerator. I don’t even remember how long it has been sitting there. I always love the surprises I find when it’s time to clean up the refrigerator.

It still looked decent although it didn’t have all its fresh glory. I thought of making Korean Mackerel stew with radish but soon realized that I didn’t have any mackerel, not even a can. So that left me thinking of what I could do with this half century old “Radishbob Greenpants”.

For me, if I can’t think of any “Wow!” factor idea when I cook with vegetables, I usually make simple pancakes with them. It satisfies my needs most of the time.

I peeled first and sliced it very thinly into disks, then sliced it again into thin sticks. 1/8-inch would be the most ideal.

For me slicing is like a healing moment. “I’m lovin’ it!” – I know I am so weird this way…

Sprinkle a little salt and let them sit for 10 minutes.

By then the radish looked a little lifeless, so I added some chopped green onion, a little corn starch and flour.

I added some water and cracked an egg into the mixture. The batter was nice, so I fried it some over hot oil in a cast iron skillet.

Then I thought I might like a little spicy kick…, so I added sliced jalopeño into the batter.

I tried to spread the batter as thin as I could and sprinkled a little love – the toasted sesame seeds!

In 2-3 minutes….

I flipped it over, and voila! My radish pancake was looking pretty. I cooked the other side for another 2-3 minutes and it looked perfect to enter my gastronomic system.

I dipped my pancakes in a soy-lemon dipping sauce. I made about 6 pancakes and I ate all of them without thinking twice. Sharing was at the back of my mind at the moment.

Even if you don’t have a month or two old and somewhat lifeless radish like mine, you can still use the freshly picked radish from the local farm or from your handy-dandy grocery store. You might like that version even better. If you know what I mean.

Enjoy!

Radish Pancakes

Cuisine: Korean
Author: Beyond Kimchee

Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 15 mins
Total time: 25 mins

Ingredients

1 small Korean radish or dikon radish, peeled
1 green onion finely chopped
1 jalopeño, seeded and sliced, optional
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon corn starch
1 egg
3-4 tablespoon water
dash white pepper
some toasted sesame seeds
oil for frying
2 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Instructions

Slice the radish into 1/8-inch disks, then slice into thin sticks, about 1/8-inch.
Place radish sticks in a mixing bowl, add salt, and let it sit for 10 minutes.
Add green onion, jalopeño, flour, cornstarch, egg, and 3 tablespoon water. Mix well. If the batter seems to dry add more water. Adjust the amount of flour and water to your desired batter texture.
Heat 1-2 tablespoon of oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat, add 1/4 cup of radish batter onto the skillet and spread thinly. Sprinkle a little bit of toasted sesame seeds on top. Fry for 2-3 minutes until the bottom get golden brown. Flip and fry for another 2-3 minutes.
Serve warm with soy sauce lemon juice dipping sauce.

This recipe and image sources are referred in website: Beyondkimchee.com. Thanks so much!