It’s a small but very powerful change I made years ago in the way I cook: start from what I have – what’s in season, what’s in excess, what’s at risk of going to waste. Then, from all the many options on offer, think about what I feel like eating.
It’s a very normal way of looking at food in most cultures. What’s in season is going to be the best quality, sweetest, ripest, cheapest, least packaged, least food miles – all round best ingredients to start with. We Australians, with a food culture that is largely based on the wrong hemisphere let alone terroir are at a terrible disadvantage thinking like this.
So, what got me thinking of this today is the spring glut of spring onions in my garden, and my new favourite breakfast – Korean style sourdough spring onion pancakes. They’re crispy, flaky, flavourful without being too oniony, fast, easy and this time of year so bountiful I can eat them every day if I want.
These aren’t authentic – no doubt some Korean cooks will be having conniptions – but it’s a version that I can make fast and easily enough to make it a regular breakfast, or lunch or snack.
The Recipe:
Make a small ball of sourdough – just a bit of starter, salt, bakers flour. If you have sourdough starter you know how to do this bit. A small ball goes a long way.
Let it sit for a little minute while you make a dipping sauce. Two minutes will make a difference to the ease of rolling in the next step, and two minutes is all it will take to make a dipping sauce.
I usually go a teaspoon each of sesame oil, soy sauce, lime cordial, a little finely chopped chili and a little grated ginger. But there are many options.
Flour your benchtop and roll it out as thin as you can. Then cover with finely chopped spring onion. I used two big spring onions for this single serve pancake.
Roll your rolling pin over them to push them into the dough a little, then roll the dough into a log and the log into a spiral. Don’t worry if there are bits of spring onion pushing through.
Now sprinkle some more flour on your benchtop and roll the spiral out as thin as you can again. Again, don’t worry if the spring onion pokes through. There’s a sweet spot between too thick to get crispy and so thin it falls apart. Frypan on the stove with a good swig of oil in it. Pick the pancake up carefully over a rolling pin and transfer to the hot pan.
Fry on the first side without messing around with it until it is brown and crispy. (If you try to turn it too early it will tear, which is fine as far as taste goes but a bit less neat). You might need to add a little more oil, then fry the other side till it is crispy too.
Cut it into triangles and serve with the dipping sauce.
Yum!
