Green Onion Zucchini Pancakes

I am a big fan of Korean food.

I get a lot of recipes from my sister-in-law, but because she lives really far away from me and I don't see her very often, I also check out Maangchi.

I recently found myself with both green onion and zucchini.  I've heard of Korean green onion pancakes (Pajeon) and Korean zucchini pancakes (Hobakjeon), so here I combined the two.

There were two pancakes, but only one made it to the photo, because they are very tasty.

Zucchini and Green Onion Pancakes (makes 2 big ones)

1 zucchini, juliennned

2 stalks of green onion, all parts, roughly chopped

1 c. flour

1 c. water

2 t. miso paste or a pinch of salt

2 t. sugar

Warm a pan over medium heat.  Cast iron works great here.  Add about 2 T. of vegetable oil.

Mix all the above ingredients together.  Eyeball about half, and put it into the heated pan.  Let it cook for about 5 minutes on one side, then flip.  Let it cook for another 5 minutes on the other side.  Drizzle a little sesame oil around the sides of the pan while the pancake is cooking.  You may flip it two more times to make sure it is cooked evenly through.

A dipping sauce adds a lot to this pancake.  You just kind of spoon it on top while you eat it.

Dipping Sauce

2 T. soy sauce

1 T. white vinegar

1  t. sesame seeds

1 stalk green onion, finely chopped

Mix together.

Muffin Riffing

I have been making a lot of muffins lately.

I found some pretty general recipes and have been changing them up with different ingredients.  Last week, for example, I used the recipe for blueberry lemon muffins and instead made raspberry orange muffins, because those were the ingredients I had on hand.

I've been loving ginger, and I wanted a ginger muffin that was not a gingerbread muffin.  A few alterations to my recipe gave me these ginger gems.

I managed to sub applesauce for oil and add a bit less sugar, so perhaps I can call these healthy, even though essentially it's still a miniature cake.

Ginger Muffins

2 c. white whole wheat flour or regular flour

1 1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

2 T. crystallized ginger, finely chopped

1 1/2 t. ginger powder

2/3 c. sugar

1 c. soy or other milk

1/3 c. plain applesauce

1 t. orange extract

1 T. white vinegar

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  

In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, salt, and both kinds of ginger.  In another medium bowl, mix the sugar, milk, applesauce, extract, and vinegar.

Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients, and just barely mix. You can add a little water to get the right consistency.

Scoop into a greased muffin tin.

Bake about 17-20 minutes.

Mushroom Pate

It's hard to say where I first got this idea.  Probably from The Urban Vegan by Dynise Balcavage.  Sometimes you just need a little something to dip your cracker in.  And sometimes you want that something to feel fancy.

Mushroom Pate

2 T. olive oil

12 pecans

a bunch of mushrooms, roughly chopped  (white, cremini, shiitake, or a mix would be fine), I'm thinking enough to fill up the skillet before they are soft

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

salt and pepper

1 T. vermouth or brandy or sherry

2-3 T. nutritional yeast (optional)

Heat a skillet over medium heat.  Lightly toast the pecans, and then toss them into a food processor for later.

Warm the olive oil.  Add the mushrooms and garlic and saute until soft.  Add water if things start sticking.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Toss the mushrooms into the food processor and process.  Add the nutritional yeast, alcohol, and process some more.  Add more salt, pepper, or olive oil if needed, to taste.