Chive-Mushroom Pancake (부추 버섯전)

Garlic chives with flat leaves, known as bu chu (부추) in Korea, are commonly used in Korean cooking - to make kimchi, savory pancakes, soups and stuffing for pork dumplings, to name a few. Another kind of garlic chives is the round one with flower buds which I got from Chinatown the other day. I haven't used garlic chives with buds before, first because I didn't grow up eating it. But more embarassingly, I realize that I just grew a habit of not using it because I haven't used it before. How many more am I not even aware of not utilizing because I just didn't before?

Chive-Mushroom Pancake) Mix flour and water, 1/2 cup each, with a pinch of salt. I added a tablespoon of apple sauce to add a hint of sweetness. Coat the bottom of a hot pan with a sufficient amount of oil. Pour about 1-2 tablespoons of the batter over low heat, and spread out the batter quickly and carefully using the back of a spoon to make it thin. Spread out a mix of enoki muchrooms and garlic chives and drizzle the flour batter just enough to glue the vegetables to the pancake. Turn the heat up to medium. When the edges become crispy and start browning, check the bottom of the pancake for a nice golden brown color. Flip only once to cook the vegetable side. I made 4 pancakes about the size of my palm.

Garlic chives (the name speaks for its taste) with flower buds render the dominant flavor, which is somewhat balanced off by enoki mushrooms' more neutral tone. Cooked enoki, which is crispy when fresh, also adds a fun, stringy texture. The pretty pancakes dipped in my soy sauce made my whole lunch pretty.

TIPS!
	*Use oil to save oil -* If you're not using a nonstick pan, the two most important things in pan-frying are a well-heated pan with enough oil for quick, crispy cooking. Too little means risking the item sticking to the pan, which often ends up soaking up more oil. Too much of it becomes something close to an inadequate deep-frying. Start with enough oil, generously coating the bottom of a hot pan. *Batter to your taste* - Thinner, runnier batter makes it easier to make the pancake thinner whereas thicker batter will give height and denser, dough-like texture. Add an egg (which is the picture shown), try a mix of water and milk, etc. Just remember - * Excessive salt and stirring strengthen gluten development, i.e., help toughening the batter. * Acidity, sugar and time weaken gluten development, i.e., help keeping the batter pretty loose. It also means that you can rest the batter for about 30 minutes to loosen the gluten development if you've over-mixed it.