Whole Leaf Napa Kimchi and Ground Pork Pancakes

This is super tasty.  The pancakes on the left are meat side up, the right side are kimchi side up, and the one in the centre, I cut in half, shows the pork mixture (meat down).

I made some whole leaf napa (baechu) kimchi a few weeks ago.  Today I was making ground pork rolls for James, so I decided to make kimchi and ground pork pancakes for me.  He won't eat cabbage or onions.

This is easy to make, once you have the whole leaf kimchi.  Here's what to do:

Mix ground pork with chopped onion, chopped green onions, black pepper, salt, sesame oil.

Have a plate with flour, and another with an egg mixed with a bit of salt.

Take a few leaves of kimchi, and cover them in flour.  Place some of the meat mixture on the leaf, 

sprinkle more flour, 

dunk the meat side into the egg, and place, meat down, in a hot pan with melted butter.  

After a couple of minutes flip over.  

Serve right away. 

I made five and I ate all five, though the last one had to wait a bit, so it was cold by the time I ate it.  It was still ok, but the heat from the spices in the kimchi dies down and it loses the crunch.  This was so yummy, spicy, sour, with that sesame oil pork taste.

For a vegetarian version, use tofu instead of pork.  I don't do tofu, but I bet it would also be yummy with various mashed beans or lentils with herbs.

맛있게 드세요 (Korean)

Enjoy!

Indoor Gardening

A few weeks ago I started a mini indoor garden.  I try to have some fresh herbs, I do mostly outside when the weather is warm and stable.  I say stable, because for about two weeks we've had 20+ C outside, about 4x the seasonal norm.  It's the middle of March.  Today is cooler, hopefully winter won't be back.  I didn't want to take chances with planting seeds outside just in case it went below zero again.

Here is a photo of my mini indoor garden:

What you see there are 2 pots of heirloom garlic, I used my last 2 cloves, parsley, and mixed greens.  The fluffy green plant on the left is a decorative asparagus fern.  The garlic is growing very fast, so I knotted the leaves so the plant starts focusing more on the bulb, as opposed to the foliage.  I haven't decided yet, if I'm going to let one grow seeds, or if I will use both for the garlic cloves.  I might do that, and then just re-sow a few of the cloves, instead of growing it from seeds.  Last night I actually added two more cans, one with chives, and one with green sweet basil.  I love fresh basil.  Chives are delicious chopped on a fresh piece of crusty rye or pumpernickel with butter, farmer's cheese or cottage cheese, and s&p.  I prefer chives to green onions, they have a slightly milder flavour, and are significantly thinner, you can also dehydrate them.

I came across this nifty idea for indoor planting and reusing/ recycling:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150745621612053&set=o.189287804456890&type=1&theater

If I get my hands on some pop bottles, I will definitely try this.

BTW, this is what I've got blooming in my yard to date (this year):

The crocusses came in first, and the blooms are already gone, I only had 3 flowers, so I didn't bother collecting the saffron.  For those who don't know, saffron are the yellow (reproductive) bits inside the crocus flower.  I didn't actually plant them, they were there from previous owners, or possibly squirrels.  Super tiny and just poking from below the shrub you see in the background.  The mini daffodils, I planted last fall, in a not so straight row.  I love them all.  Instant smiles.  My winter rose has small buds, I planted it last year, so I didn't even expect any flowers this year.

Happy gardening!