Grace and Ben

First, watch my slideshow!
I found this recipe for a Korean vegetable pancake on the New York Times. This item is one of my favorite things to order when I eat at a Korean restaurant. Usually, it’s called a seafood pancake or kimchee pancake because it often contains shrimp, squid or kimchee. However, I didn’t want to pay for or prepare seafood items and I didn’t have any kimchee on hand so I will stick with my vegetarian version. A few comments about this recipe: Don’t make your pancake too big. I didn’t have a grater so my zucchini and carrots were too large and hence my pancake was too big. In the future, I will use a grater. Well, actually, I should have used my food processor, DUH! Also, the recipe was too bland. I would add kimchee or salt next time.

Pancake ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tbsp peanut oil
5 scallions, cut into 3 inch lengths and sliced lengthwise
5 chopped scallions
1 medium carrot, grated
1 green squash, grated

dipping sauce ingredients:
1 tbsp rice vinegar
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
(I also added sesame oil, but that’s not necessary)

Instructions:
In a medium bowl, mix flour, eggs and oil with 1.5 cups water until smooth batter is formed. Stir in scallion greens, carrots, and squash into batter. Use a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and coat bottom of pan with oil. Ladle in a quarter (or less) of the batter and spread it evenly into a circle. I used too much batter and my pancake took 20 minutes to cook. If you use smaller pan and less batter, the recipe says it should only take 3 minutes on each side. After pancakes are finished (nice golden brown on each side, if possible), drain on paper towels. To make dipping sauce, mix vinegar, soy sauce, sugar (and sesame oil, if desired) in a small bowl. Cut pancakes into triangles and serve with dipping sauce.

It’s been a crazy summer for me. I have been out of town from Baltimore for more than half of August. And before that, I was figuring out my new neighborhood and job and co-workers. However, as the temperature in Baltimore begins to decrease to sub-90s, sub-90% humidity, I have decided to start cooking again. I enjoy eating a home-cooked meal and previously, I was lacking the time, energy, and tools for making a nice meal here. I would like to share a few recipes that I recommend, especially for my husband–to help him eat his veggies.

Tonight I made “Beefy Lentil Vegetable Soup” based on a recipe from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

1 pound of ground beef

1 1/2 cups dry lentils, rinsed

1 cup chopped onion

1 can beef stock

1 32 fl. oz. bottle of V8 (equivalent to 4 cups of any veggie-tomato juice)

1 dash of Worchestershire sauce

2 tsp. salt

ground pepper to taste

1 tsp. garlic powder (optional

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (optional)

1 tsp. cumin (optional)

Instructions:

1. Brown beef, break meat into small pieces while cooking. Drain.

2. Place meat in a big pot with a lid. Add lentils, onion, beef stock, salt, pepper, V8, spices (optional). Cook on high until boiling. Reduce heat to low and cover. Simmer for 30-45 min, or until lentils are tender. Stir every 10-15 minutes.

See final product:

I also found a nice squash recipe that is similar to what I usually make (sometimes I add a little basil for flavor at the very end, before serving). It’s a cheap, healthy way to use up summer squashes. Next summer, if I’m not traveling too frequently, I might try to grow a basil plant. It rains frequently in Baltimore, but I still worry that if I’m gone for a week, my plant will die.