With Houston reaching the peak of its temperatures (~100F) and my family coming to stay, we’ve been on a food adventure throughout Houston including its fine cuisine ranging from Tex-Mex, Viet-Cajun, Korean, Japanese, Portuguese and more. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed the company and having our new home filled with people, chatter and much cooking. Although we haven’t been able to fit these zucchini pancakes into our menu since we’ve been eating out so much (its tough to cook to feed 6 people everyday between work), I’ve been absolutely craving these pancakes because of how simple and light these are.
Inspired by my husband’s childhood, these zucchini pancakes are a gluten-free, vegetarian, low-fat version of what his mom makes. Growing in Singapore, his mom would make these Korean pancakes as a snack to share with the family. Since we’ve moved out to Houston, he’s been reminiscing his mom’s cooking and her simple recipes. As we set a goal to eat better and cook more at home, creating easy and healthy recipes has been a fun hobby of ours. Well, mainly my husband’s efforts.
I love that I can whip this up with staple cupboard ingredients. Previously, we released a similar recipe stuffed with kimchi (a more traditional version). However, this version is my personal favorite. I love the texture of this version – the additional egg adds a wonderful chewy texture and the savory dipping sauce pairs well with the pancake. This is a very kid-friendly way to enjoy zucchini as well and looks amazing as a crowd pleaser at parties and gatherings. I would dare say also that this recipe is a great breakfast pancake recipe that is savory rather than sweet!
The sauce is highly recommended because zucchini pancakes are a little blander and adding a slight salty-umami kick makes a huge difference.
- 603g zucchini (skin on; ~2 large zucchinis)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1.5 cup oat flour
- 1.5 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp chicken powder / chicken / vegetable bouillon
- 1 egg
- 1 cup water + 4 tbsp water
- Oil/cooking spray
- Sauce:
- 1 tbsp vinegar
- 2 tbsp low sodium (or 1 tbsp regular soy sauce)
- ½ tsp gochugaru (Korean chili flakes)
- 1 green onion, thinly sliced
- Julienne zucchini (we recommend chopping my hand instead of grating to maintain the texture)
- Add in salt. toss and set aside for 15 mins.
- After 15 mins, using a cheesecloth, or your hands, squeeze all the excess water out of the zucchini. Squeezing out water will help your pancake stay chewy and crispy as possible.
- Mix all the ingredients together except the water. Start with 1 cup of water and gradually add as batter thickens .
- Heat a non stick pan, spray a thin layer of oil. Depending on the size of your pan, ladle ⅓ - ½ the batter into the hot pan and spread evenly. (may need less if you have small pan). Let the pancake cook on side under slow and low heat. Flip the pancake and cook until both sides are slightly brown and crispy.
- Mix together the ingredients for the sauce. Serve with warm pancake!
Leave a Reply