growing up, my best friend was korean, and i do recall her mentioning korean pancakes, but somehow, she never fed them to me. she fed me entirely too little korean food, even though i loved and gushed about the few things i did get to eat at her house. i ate an entire plate of korean kalbi (short ribs) while waiting for her to get ready to go out one night. and i barely noticed the smell of cabbage that she complained about when her mom was making kim chee. if you end up with homemade kim chee at the end of it all, who cares? so i blame her for my coming to korean food late in life.
but this week i attempted my third ever korean recipe, after coming across it in new york times. you can find it here, and also check out the lovely slide show, showcasing thes busy cook behind the recipe here. i used broccoli, chives and scallions since that's what i had on hand and they turned out great. they were super easy, they were much more filling than i thought they'd be, and they tasted better at room temperature so there's no rush to get them on the table fast. i sort of followed the recipe for the dipping sauce, but i used less sugar and added scallions, and of course, instead of a pinch of chili flakes, i used a lot of chili paste. hotter. that's how i lika le sauce.