Scallion Pancakes

One thing I've never seen in "mix" form is scallion pancakes. You've probably had these delightful, fluffy and flavorful pancakes at a Chinese restaurant or maybe at Korean BBQ along with the plethora of salads. These heavier-than-a-crepe pancakes are so easy to make and great with a dash of soy, ponzu or even teriyaki sauce.

In order to inject some umami (the 5th taste) into the "Everything But The..." line of baking mixes, we've come up with a lovely "Everything But The...eggs" recipe for scallion pancakes. Here's the recipe I tested today. I still have some more tweaking to do, but the pancakes had a soft, delectable texture while really delivering an punchy green onion flavor, accented by some sea salt.

Whisk together in a large bowl:
2 eggs
1 cup water
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil (or any vegetable you have around)

Slowly add in the dry ingredients. Once packaged, Everything But The will include all of these dry ingredients, pre-mixed, in our fantastic, eco-friendly containers so all you have to do is pour into the wet ingredients above!

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup rice flour
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Dash of chili powder
Pinch of fresh ground black pepper
1 cup chopped scallions 

Whisk everything together so that there are no lumps. The great part about the rice flour is it provides a smooth, thin consistency very quickly.

Next, heat a large pan to medium-high heat with 2 tablespoons of oil (vegetable oil works just fine). Pour in about 1/2 cup of your batter mix and pan-fry on one side for about 1-2 minutes, then flip and fry the other side. Watch the pan closely and lift the side of the pancake to check for doneness before flipping.

Once done, transfer to a plate and serve it up with any variety of Asian toppings. Any of the following combinations are great:

• Ponzu with lemon zest
• Teriyaki sauce with orange segments
• Soy sauce with grated ginger and cilantro
• Wasbi mayonaise 

Next time I'm going to test these with dried shitaki mushrooms to see how I can inject another umami ingredient into the mix. I'm sure I'll have to let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes so the mushrooms can re-hydrate in the batter, but I have high hopes for the outcome.

If you try this at home, let me know your thoughts and leave a comment below.

So I had a bunch of jalapenos laying around...

I have a love of spicy things. Not just hot, but like blow your socks off hot. Caliente, in fact.

So, of course, it makes it impossible not to buy jalapenos whenever I'm at the Korean market. They're always fresh, glossy and oh so cheap. Last week I bought a bag of about 20 for around 80 cents. A good Jewish girl can always find the best deal on Mexican foods, especially in K-town.

I bought the jalapenos with the intention of making a childhood favorite, hot pepper jelly. Spicy and sweet and a bright green color, I've been addicted since I was a child. I blame my grandmother.

Anyway, I didn't feel like getting out the canning gear today so I hunted down an easier, quicker recipe online. Emeril Lagasse's green chili sauce seemed to do the trick, and was easy as can be.

I diced up all 20 jalapenos along with a small white onion and a few cloves of garlic. Sauteed in a large pan with some oil and salt, I then added water before they could get any color. Letting the mixture cook down for about 20 minutes, I started coughing. Why am I coughing, I thought? Oh, that's right, there's the incredible spice of 20 jalapenos boiling away on my counter. I actually had to leave the room a few times just to breathe.

Peppers in Progress

After 20 minutes, the jalapenos mellowed in color and I left them to cool while I went rearranging my succulent nation (more pics on that soon, totally unrelated to food, of course).

Once cooled, I put the mixture in my fabulous food processor (thank you, Luisa!) and dribbled in a cup of white vinegar as it churned.

Then, I just poured it all (now a fine saucy liquid) into a clean glass jar and placed it in the fridge. Now, I actually don't get to enjoy my hot sauce just yet. Emeril recommends I leave it in the fridge for at least two weeks to develop the flavor, and any man that virtually trademarks the phrase "bam!" is probably a good one to follow.

The finished product! A whole quart

I'll report back in a few weeks when my sauce has "matured" and, lucky me, I probably will never need to buy hot sauce again. My 80 cents may be saving my tens of dollars in the future!

NOTE: Do not put on gardening gloves soon after handling jalapenos. The capsicum (the chemical in chilies that makes them hot) seeped into my pores as the heat of the glove warmed my skin. I have had a burning right hand all day. Not like "oh, that burns", more like "oh, that f***ing burns and throbs and oh my god make it stop!" Good times.