I’ve got pancakes on the brain at the moment, not sweet pancakes but savoury. I’ve looked at chickpea pancakes (really tasty, full of protein and gluten free) and pancakes across the world from Dutch babies (tricky to make vegan and gluten free) to Japanese okonomiyaki (look out for that recipe next week!). It makes sense really, pancake day is next week and want you to have lots of options to choose from.
I’m told kimchi pancakes are the solution to those odd bits of leftover kimchi but I struggle to believe that. Personally I’ve never had a problem getting rid of kimchi, it’s always been very happy in my stomach. However, kimchi pancakes are another tasty way to get this great food into your mouth. Cut into bitesize pieces with a pizza cutter along side a truly tasty dipping sauce, these are so easy to eat. Whip them up as a snack, serve as a side to a steaming bowl of congee, or serve as a tasty savoury breakfast – either way they won’t disappoint.
Made to the traditional recipe, kimchi pancakes are naturally vegan provided you use vegan kimchi. The tricky bit here is making sure you keep the right texture while loosing the gluten. Now I’ve tried making this with a standard gluten free flour blend and I have to say, it doesn’t really work. After trying many different flour combinations I’ve settled on buckwheat flour with potato starch (not potato flour – potato starch and flour are very different beasts). The buckwheat allows for a tender pancake, while the potato starch crisps the pancake up perfectly.
- Makes: Serves 2 (or 4 as a side)
Ingredients
For the Pancakes:
- 70g Buckwheat Flour
- 95g Potato Starch
- 1/2 cup Kimchi
- 250ml Water*
- 3 tsp Sriracha
- 2 Spring Onions, sliced
- 2 Tbsp Toasted Sesame Seeds
- 1/4 tsp Salt
For the Dipping Sauce:
- 60ml Soy Sauce Substitute (see allergy note below)
- 1/2 Tbsp Maple Syrup
- 1/2 Tbsp Rice Vinegar
- 1Tbsp Mirin
- 1 Tbsp Sesame Seeds
- 1 tsp Sriracha
- 2 Garlic Cloves, minced
- 1/2 tsp Minced Ginger
- 2 Tbsp Coriander Leaves, finely chopped
- Salt & pepper, to taste
Directions
If your kimchi is in large pieces then make sure to roughly chop into bitesize chunks before you start. I like to use a decent pair of kitchen scissors and a bowl as it’s neater than trying to use a chopping board. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Add in the kimchi, sriracha, water, and spring onions and mix to a smooth pancake batter.
Heat your favourite frying pan over a medium heat with a dash of oil. Add enough batter to make a thin pancake – I use a 30 cm frying pan and this takes about half the batter. Sprinkle over sesame seeds and cook until browned on one side and the batter has set. Flip and continue to cook until evenly browned. Repeat until all the batter has been used.
While the pancakes cook, make the dipping sauce. In a small bowl, mix together all the ingredients into a thick and clingy sauce. Taste and balance as needed, it should be slightly sweet, slightly sour and with a bit (but not too much) of a kick.
When serving, I like to cut this into little squares with a pizza cutter. It looks great and makes it easy to eat with chopsticks. Tasty and easy to eat – yum!
Notes
* If you have some then use kimchi juice instead of the water.
Allergy Notes; I’m going to keep saying this – Soy Sauce is NOT gluten free as the brewing process contains wheat. A good gluten free option is Tamari which normally contains little to no gluten, is slightly less salty, and thicker than soy sauce. As always, check your brand to make sure you’ve not accidentally picked up one of the few brands which uses gluten. We use coconut aminos in our house, while not quite as rich as soy sauce, it’s both gluten free and soy free but different brands vary tremendously – you may have to look around before finding one that suits you.
This is vegan as long as you make sure to pick up vegan Kimchi and naturally gluten free, and nut free. If sesame seeds are an allergen for you then just skip them – it’ll still be tasty!
