Happy National Virtual Vacation Day!
As spring break season hits (our local public schools will have it next week) some people are busy planning on vacation. After graduating from college, I really don’t have spring break but I’m willing to go somewhere I can relax and have fun. It still isn’t a good time traveling, so why not cook some unique food and enjoy a virtual vacation?
If there is no budget limit and burden for this COVID-19 situation, the first place I want to go other than my home country is Korea. Even though Japan and Korea are next to each other, I never had a chance to visit there. Korea is a great destination for Japanese people especially in terms of convenient location, so travel agencies often had sales for package tours.
I really love their food, so whenever someone talks about Korean BBQ, Korean hot dogs made with cheese, or soon tofu makes me want to pack a luggage right away. I grew up with a family which is conservative about what we eat, so the real Korean food I tried was after I came to the US. I still remember the first bite of a Korean seafood pancake. With just a bite, I already fell in love and asked to visit that restaurant again whenever we went out for dinner.
And now, my stomach and taste buds are calling Korean pancakes, so let’s make some simple Korean pancakes and enjoy a virtual vacation!
Ready to check how I made it? Let’s cook!
<Today’s Recipe>
Korean Leek Pancake
<Ingredients>
*May contain Amazon Associate links. By clicking the links, they will take you to the specific Amazon.com product page and you’ll see what ingredients/tools are recommended for making the food of the day. As an Amazon Associate I will receive a very small commission from qualifying purchases.
Pancake
- 80g potato starch
- 80g all purpose flour
- 1 cup water
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- ¼ bunch Chinese leek – sliced in half length
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil for baking
Sauce
- Some Chinese leek – chopped
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
<Direction>
- Combine all ingredients for the sauce together in a mixing bowl and let the leek’s flavor infused to the liquid ingredients.
- Make dough – combine all ingredients together in a bowl and lightly mix.
- Pour sesame oil in a pan and cook leek. Reduce heat to medium heat and pour over the dough and cook for about 5 min.
- Flip the dough over and cook 5 min more.
- Serve with sauce.
<Cooking Tips>
You can of course play with ingredients. I used Chinese leeks this time, but since they have an intense flavor you can use scallion instead. And my favorite topping is seafood mix…aww I miss those days I could eat meat and seafood freely!
Mmm, good! This is a vegan version, but if I can visit the Korean restaurant in LA again, I will happily break my diet and order a big batch of seafood Korean pancakes!
What country do you want to go to, if there is no budget limit?
<Other Korean Food to Try>
Stretch the cheese as you pull! Korean Corn Cheese
Make some burnt part, that’s so good! Grilled Bibimbap Rice Balls
Perfect refreshing sidedish! Veggie Namul
Enjoy home cooking and your own creation of homemade food:)
One placed we lived while growing up, the next door neighbors made Korean food. They let us try some. Pretty good.
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Wow that’s so good for you! You could anytime travel to Korea virtually…I’m jealous!😂
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Can I be your Trip to Korea buddy? Please 😁. I love Korean food and miss working near K Town. Mouth water thinking about bulgoki and the puffy bread and kimchi…🤤
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Heeey Michelle, I’m craving for korean food, but you made me more!!😂 I used to go to K town a lot too…miss the AYCE BBQ and spa!!
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Never went to the spa but wanted to, thinking WiSpa? My coworkers and I would go to this place on western. It has shiny black tables. The BP in accounting was Korean and it was his favorite place to treat us(his favorites 😁) I wish I remember the name of the place.
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Aww that sounds so familiar!😂 But we used to go to Crystal much more than WiSpa because WiSpa was ALWAYS crowded! Shower area always had traffic like the one in 405, so we went there only a couple of times…aww, I miss K town so much🤣
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I lived in Korea (South!) for four years, and grew to really enjoy the food including the pancakes you describe here. Fortunately, here in Tokyo there’s a Korean community and plenty of restaurants so I can still indulge. And yes, I do like kimchi!
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Ahh, I bet you’re talking about Shin-Ohkubo?😁 I’ve never been there because the place got spotted light after I moved to the US😭 Wow 4 years in S.Korea…you must’ve made so many sweet memories!👍🎉
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Korean food seems to be quite a big deal also around here. I haven’t tried it yet as Korean restaurants are crazy expensive but when I read the dishes and ingredients, I become more interested every time.
You’re writing that the Chinese leeks you used have a very strong taste, even stronger than scallions? 😳
That really made me curious as I often use scallions and as far as leeks are concerned, I’ve only known the European one up to now. That one has a far softer taste than scallions, so you really sparked my interest for the Chinese one. 😉👍
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Ah Livia, I was talking about the difference between Chinese leeks and European leeks on Instagram with someone else just a few minutes ago!😂 Yes I bet they differ so much, but unfortunately I haven’t tried European leek just yet…I thought European leeks got similar flavor to Chinese leeks, so I was afraid of buying it because I was afraid of if I can use them up all!
The difference between scallions and Chinese leeks, yes I think Chinese leeks got more intense flavor. My husband doesn’t get along with strong flavored food, so he even asked to swap Chinese leeks to scallions when I make it next time.
And wow, Korean food is expensive in Indonesia!? To us here in my neighbor, Vietnamese food got so expensive!! We were craving for Vietnamese food the other day and looking for a restaurant, and even though a bowl of pho was like $5~$6 in LA, here in SF it’s over $15 so we gave up ordering it😂😂😂 But maybe you’re luckier because as long as you are willing to pay for it, you can enjoy Korean food…my neighbor got none so all we can do is make it at home or just dream about it when we’re in Korean town in LA🥲 Crossing fingers for someday someone opens reasonable korean/vietnamese restaurant in our neighbor or both of us be a millionaire!🤣
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What a funny coincidence with the leeks 😁
If your husband doesn‘t like strong flavors, maybe the European leek could be interesting for him. I tried to find out how to describe its taste and I think, the scallions taste more like garlic whereas the European leek is much softer and a bit more like a yellow onion. It’s great for adding it to vegetable soups. Especially when you use only the white part, it has a very soft flavor.
Almost all Non-Indonesian Food ranges from pretty to crazy expensive here. The only exception is probably Chinese, as many Warungs offer Chinese food, too. At the moment it‘s just too expensive to try Korean food in a restaurant. Maybe if I go to Singapore another time, I‘ll try to find it there. 🤔
Have a great weekend ☺️
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Oh really!? Then we should give it a try for European leeks, probably with soup😋
Do you sometimes go to Singapore? that’s so good for you, I wanna try authentic Laksa someday!😌💕✨
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Oh, ya, I can highly recommend Laksa! It‘s a dish I love, too! 😍👍 I haven‘t been to Singapore for quite a long time due to Covid.
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