김치전 Kimchi pancake

     This past weekend was stock full of goodbye gatherings and "last nights", and being in Korea, more than enough drinks were consumed. We stayed out til the sun rose, til words streamed into one long murmur, and until all we could do was dance, or stumble...or fall. Korea's all about drinking, but no matter the culture or location, when saying peace to loved ones...sloppiness is inevitable. Whether it be from alcohol, substances, explosive expressions...sloppiness is inevitable.
     Due to my...'sloppiness' this vegan lady scrounged around her (sad empty) fridge and whipped up a classic traditional and super easy Korean classic, 김치전 (kimchi pancake). Most people turn to fries, deep-fried tacos, something greasy and hangover healing...I usually knock it out with a massive coffee but this time...but this time.

김치전~ a little blurry, eeep (photo taken by VeganBeats)

     전 (jeon) is typically eaten as 안주 (food eaten with alcohol), be it 소주 (soju) or 막걸리 (makgeoli), you can often see friends, business partners, families gathering together and downing shots of alcohol while nomming on loads of 전. There are lots of varieties also, like 파전-pa jeon (onion pancake), 두부전-dubu jeon (fried tofu), 감자전-gamja jeon (potato pancake), the delicious 호박전-hobak jeon (zucchini pancake!!) etc.
     When I was a kid, my mom would have special 전 nights, usually 호박전, and this happened when zucchinis were on sale!! My brother and I would help her slice and sliver loads of zucchini while watching her make magic. I miss when I was nothing but metabolism, my brother and I could throw down so many of these guys and go running for miles after. She was (IS) a master still, they're perfectly crispy, never burnt, and there's always a generous portion of squash in everything.
     
     Now a days, I only eat one, and it's rarely if ever. I was feeling guilty nomming on this so I threw a bunch of greens on top of it...to make it more "healthy" (?) Anyways, here's the go to:

What you need:
~김치 (as much as you want!!)
~whole wheat flour
~enough water to make a batter
~olive oil

What to do:
1. Take your 김치 and chop it up rather small **keep the juices!
2. Mix the flour and water into a batter, only slightly thinner then American style pancake batter
3. Add the 김치 and juice into the batter and mix well
   **If the batter is too watery, add more flour
4. Heat a non-stick pan on med-high heat and coat the bottom in oil
5. Once the oil is hot, add ladles (up to you how large) of the mixture and let it get crissspy!
6. flip it when it's brown...keep watching it!
7. enjoy this sucker!!!
optional~>add shredded bitter greens on top (arugula would be sick! or sprouts!!)