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Kimchi Pancake, Vegan and Gluten-Free

Kimchi pancake, or Kimchijeon, is a widely loved classic Korean dish, it's like a savory pancake filled with fermented napa cabbage and other veggies, golden crispy on the exterior and soft and chewy on the inside. It's one of my top comfort dishes but now even better - because these are vegan, Gluten-free, and high-protein!

I feel like I'm on a quest to not only veganize all of my favorite dishes but also to make them all gluten-free! Technically I'm not "allergic" to gluten, as in eating gluten won't cause me any life-threatening illness, however, gluten does irritate my body, especially my skin, I would get rashes literally the next day if I had eaten too much wheat product.

Luckily I figured out a perfect gluten-free flour mixture to substitute the traditional all-purpose flour in kimchi pancakes and as a bonus, this method also makes them much higher in protein! With the high protein batter, I can justify eating these heavenly treats as a whole meal and feel assured that I'm getting enough nutrients!

And I highly recommend having them with my go-to dipping sauce, it's super simple to put together, savory, umami, and slightly sweet, and you can adjust the spiciness to your liking by adding more chili peppers or skipping them completely. The sauce adds a whole new layer of flavor to this dish.

To make sure your kimchi pancakes turn out crunchy crispy on both the top and bottom, there are a couple super simple tricks:

1. Use a generous drizzle of oil, normally I don't like to use too much oil when I pan-fry things, because I know my trusty ceramic coated pan won't stick, but for this pancake specifically a generous oil coating is key to get the batter to form a crispy crust;

2. Let one side cook well before flipping or moving around, you want the bottom side to firm up and crisp up first, and after you flip the pancake over, drizzle a bit more oil around the edge so the other side gets cooked crispy as well!

Watch the video below to follow the steps, and if you make this please tag me on Instagram and Tiktok I'd looove to see it ^^


INGREDIENTS:

*this amount yields one 6 inch pancake, multiple the amount if you're using a bigger pan or want to make more

1/2 cup chopped napa cabbage kimchi

1 tablespoon kimchi juice

2 small scallions or 1 large one, chopped

1/3 cup chickpea flour

1/4 cup tapioca flour, aka tapioca starch

1/2 cup water

1/4 teaspoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon cooking oil, divided into halves


For the dipping sauce -

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon coconut amino

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 small red thai chili pepper, chopped

1 small green chili pepper, chopped

1/2 teaspoon white sesame seeds


TO MAKE:

- Chop the scallions and kimchi, you can chop them bigger or smaller depending on your preference, bigger veggie pieces will give more texture to the pancake while smaller ones will make the pancake smoother;

- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the two flours and sugar first;

- Slowly add in the water and stir the flour mixture at the same time until very smooth;

- Fold in the kimchi juice and chopped kimchi and scallions, you should have an easily spreadable thin batter, if too thick, add a touch more water;

- In a nonstick pan, heat 1/2 tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat, pour in the batter, the amount of batter I made here fits right into my 6-inch pan, adjust the amount based on your pan or your preferred size;

- Spread the batter evenly to cover the entire bottom, let the bottom side cook till you can see the edges firm up and change color, about 3 - 4 minutes;

- Carefully scrape around the edge, lift the pancake and check the bottom, when it's golden crispy, slide your spatula under the pancake, and flip it over;

- Drizzle in the other 1/2 tablespoon of oil around the edge of the pan, cook the other side for another 3 minutes or so until golden brown;

- Meanwhile, make the dipping sauce by mixing together all the sauce ingredients;

- When the pancake is cooked, slice it however you like, you can slice it like a pizza, or with a checkerboard pattern like I did here;

- Serve hot with the dipping sauce, enjoy!


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