Mixed Vegetables Pancakes

I eat quite a lot of vegetables and there are always some leftover, half onion, several mushrooms, a quarter of cabbage, or one tomato, etc. Usually I would make fried mixed vegetable and finish off all of them in one go, sometimes I would also make vegetables pancake for breakfast. This recipe is inspired by Korean vegetable pancake, Yachaejeon. But my way of making the batter is a little different and I don’t really care what vegetables in the pancake.

Serve 2

Ingredients –
Mushrooms, about 200g, sliced;
Potato, about 130g, shredded to slim sticks;
Onion, 30g, sliced;
Courgette, about 250g, cut to slim sticks;
A bunch of spring onion, about 20g, cut to about 2 inches long;
Garlic, 3 cloves, minced;
Salt, 1tsp;
Water, 3/4 cup;
All-purpose flour, 2 cups;
Aged black vinegar, 2tbsp;
Light soy sauce, 2tbsp;
A pinch of powdered dry red chili (optional).

How to do –
1. Put all vegetables except the mushroom in a big mixing bowl, add 1tsp of salt in the vegetables, and mix well, I prefer to use hand. Set aside for a few minutes and let them release a little juice. I don’t want the mushrooms to release juice or they would become chewy;
2. Add the mushroom in the mixing bowl;
3. Add flour in the vegetables. I want a light batter so I won’t use too much flour. What I want is all vegetables lightly coated with batter, so how much flour and water depends on what vegetables you use. For the vegetables in this recipe, I use 2 cups of flour and only 3/4 cups of water. I would suggest to add in flour and water gradually, mix with your hand so that you could feel if the vegetables have stuck together with the help of the batter;
4. Add 2tbsp of vegetable oil in hot pan, I use a 20cm diameter non-sticky frying pan and make 4 pancakes with the proportion in this recipe;
5. Put a big spoonful of vegetables mixture, spread and shape. Slightly flat the paste with the frying spoon but not press it down too hardly. Fry for about 2 minutes in medium high heat and shake the pan, if the pancake can move easily in the pan then it’s okay to flip to the other side. Don’t worry if it’s not enough golden crispy, you could flip again and add a little bit more oil. Don’t fry it in high heat if you have a lot potatoes in the pancake or they might be not cooked and easily turn black. Keep in medium heat first and turn up the heat for a few second at last;
6. The pancakes can be eaten just like this but I would like to make a dipping with garlic, soy sauce, vinegar and chili flake.

I make vegetable pancakes according to what vegetables I have. However, I would try to make a combination of different textures and tastes, and avoid using very juicy vegetables, such as cucumber or tomato. Also, to shred the vegetables with a knife will be much better than do it with a grater for irregular shapes can provide better texture.