Hangover breakfast – Kimchi and barley flour pancakes

There aren’t that many things that I like more than Kimchi and eggs in this world. Especially when I am hungover and craving for something rich, spicy and refreshing at the same time. If I come home tipsy and I know that I will be hungover the next day, I head to the kitchen and make myself a Kimchi omelet no matter how late it is. This omelet makes me wake up with a puffy face but it also keeps me from having a splitting headache and nausea. I don’t know whether Kimchi actually cures the hangover or our brains and stomachs are just programmed to think that way but Kimchi is one of the most common hangover cure food in Korea. (As you could probably guess, we eat Kimchi for almost anything). If I am too drunk or tired to cook before bed and wake up feeling like a zombie, a bowl of hot and spicy soup or Kimchi pancake with an egg is usually what I want.

We often make these pancakes with wheat flour but for this recipe I used barley flour to add more flavor and fiber. If you don’t have barley flour, using unbleached all purpose flour is fine. Baking powder is a slightly unusual ingredient for Kimchi pancakes. But it makes the batter lighter and looking at cute air bubbles when pancake rises somehow makes me very happy, so I decided to use it in the recipe. These pancakes are best eaten right after they’re made, but you could also keep them in the fridge or the freezer. If you have a party coming up or plan to get drunk anyhow, make them in advance, warm them up and eat them with fried eggs the next day. They might just save you from a world of pain 😉

• Prep time: 5-10mins
• Cooking time: under 1hr
• Serves: 2-3

Ingredients

• 1 cup. barley flour or unbleached all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1 1/4 cup. Kimchi, chopped to bite size
• 2 tbsp. juice from Kimchi
• 1/2 cup. water
• a few pinches of ground white pepper
• 1 large egg for pancakes
• 2-3 eggs to make sunny side up
• 3-4 tbsp. regular or light olive oil

Sift barley flour and baking powder into a bowl. Mix in Kimchi with its juice, water, white pepper and an egg.

Heat a lightly oiled non-stick frying pan over medium-low heat. Scoop over a small amount of batter (a little less than a ladleful per pancake) onto the pan.

Cook for 3-5 minutes on each side or until golden and crispy. You will end up with 6-7 pancakes in total, depending on how many you eat while making them ;-).

Make sunny side up eggs and serve with pancakes.