Can a pancake be better for you? Draft 1

 I was sleepy on a Saturday morning and threw something together, this is a first idea to be refined.

In my grogginess, I wasn't tracking my measurements accurately (epic fail!).

Intent, make a pancake with higher fiber, healthier fats, more whole grains.

Ingredients

- 1 cup of whole wheat flour
- Nonfat greek yoghurt (as an acid to activate baking powder)
- I used butter to help bind ingredients, want to find a better option, this is what I had available
- Chia Seeds, I used this as a binder, I pre-soaked them to activate the baking powder 
- 1 teaspoon (I hope I did not use a tablepoon) of baking powder
- Flaxseed meal
- Psyllium Husk Fiber
- Walnuts
- Blueberries
- Used a tablespoon of sugar, but could substitute raw honey
- Added some vanilla extract

To consider:
- Use Bob's Red Mill Egg Replacer 
- Use a healthier fat like olive or avocado oil
Perhaps these two items would replace the binding properties of egg and butter.



I referenced this recipe's proportions:
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/21014/good-old-fashioned-pancakes/

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
3 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon white sugar
¼ teaspoon salt, or more to taste
1 ¼ cups milk
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 large egg

Garlic Achar (Lahsun Ka Achaar)

 Adapted from Tanvi at Sinfully Spicy (SFW):
https://sinfullyspicy.com/spicy-garlic-achaar/

I started enjoying the Garlic Achaar from Brooklyn Delhi:
https://brooklyndelhi.com/pages/our-story

Ingredients

  

• 200 g garlic cloves peeled, 6-7 whole garlic bulb
• 50 g green chilies
• 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
• 1.5 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
• 2 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
• ½ teaspoon ajwain seeds
• ⅛ teaspoon asafoetida hing
• ½ teaspoon nigella seeds
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• ½ teaspoon red chili powder see notes
• 1.5 teaspoon kala namak rock salt
• 1.5 teaspoon white salt adjust to taste
• 3 tablespoon apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
• ½ cup mustard oil for adding and topping later to pickle , divided

Instructions

 

Preparation

• Take the end off the green chilies. Wash and let completely air dry by laying on a kitchen or paper towel. You can slit the chilies if you wish. 
• Peel the garlic pods. See note below for my suggested methods to easily peel garlic.

  You can use ready to use garlic pods as well. Make sure that the ready to use ones are good quality. Wash and completely air dry the garlic. Layer on a kitchen and paper towel to air dry.
• Chop off the dried ends of garlic. Slice the big pods lengthwise into small. 
• While the garlic and chilies are drying, sterilize storage container and lid by dipping them in boiling water for 6-7 minutes. Completely dry the container & lid. 

Make The Garlic Achar

• In a dry pan, very lightly roast the whole spices. Cool them completely and proceed to next step.
• Add roasted whole spices (except nigella) to a small grinder and grind to a powder. It should not be too coarse or too fine.
• In a small bowl, mix together the ground masala with nigella seeds and the powdered spices and salt. Mix very well using a clean dry spoon. 
• In a large non reactive bowl, add the garlic & chillies. Sprinkle the spice powder and apple cider vinegar. Mix well. Spoon the pickle to sterilized jar.
• Add the mustard oil to a small sauce pan and let heat up till it's a little smoky. Once smoky, switch off the stove and let cool off for 1-2 minutes. 
• Add hot (but not sizzling hot) mustard oil (reserve 1-2 tablespoon for topping the achar). Using a clean dry spoon, mix everything very well for 2 minutes or so until all the garlic and chilies are coated. 
• Close the lid (not too tightly, we want the moisture to escape) and let sit for 2-3 days in a warm & dry spot of your kitchen. I keep it near my kitchen window. Shake once a day.
• The pickle will be ready to use on 4th or 5th day(depends on weather where you live). Serve using a clean spoon. Dont touch the pickle with hands.

Notes

• Make sure that every utensil that you use while making and for storing achar is dry and clean. Sterlize and dry the jars . Water is the number one enemy of oil pickles.
• If you are touching any ingredient, make sure that your hands are dry and clean.
• Make sure that the green chilies and garlic are fresh and dont have any dry, spotted, discolored parts. Remove any dry or powdery parts from the garlic using a knife. Those perpetuate fungal growth.
• Use fresh spices (sitting for not more than 2-3 months in your pantry)
• Since we are not frying the garlic and using it raw for making the achaar, make sure that the garlic pieces are small. I usually half all the garlic cloves. If you are using desi lehsun, its cloves are small and you dont need to slice.
• Make sure that the achaar is not under salted. Under salted achaar tends to go bad.
• You can skip the green chilies and make achar just with garlic. In that case, add extra red chilli powder to the masala (see recipe notes for quantity).
• Add long cut ginger pieces to this recipe to make ginger garlic ka achar.
• Make sure that the oil is hot (but not smoky sizzling hot) when you add to the pickle.
• After the achaar is mixed, with a clean spoon, taste a tiny bit of masala to check the salt. The masala will taste very sharp, bitter and salty right now. But dont worry, once the pickling is over, the pungency will go away and the garlic and chilies will absorb the salt so it won't be over salty.
• It is natural that the green chillies will lose their bright green color and turn pale yellow after pickling.
• Right after you make the achar, it will strongly smell of ACV (cider). However once the pickling is over, the strong cider smell will go away. 

Substitutions :- 

• Mustard Oil Substitute :- If you dont want to use mustard oil, use neutral oil like avocado, sunflower or grapeseed.
• If you do not wish to use green chillies, skip them. Add 1.5 teaspoon hot red chili powder in the recipe. The achar will be slightly reddish in color.
• Add long cut ginger strips to make ginger garlic achaar. 
• You can use half apple cider vinegar and half white vinegar. 

Dak Galbi

Adapted from Sue at My Korean Kitchen:
https://mykoreankitchen.com/dak-galbi/

Serve in the Cast Iron Pan

Adjusted for 2 servings:
Prep Time: 40minutes
Cook Time: 15minutes
Total Time: 55minutes

Ingredients

Main
▢333.33 g chicken thigh fillets (1.1 pounds), you can use a whole chicken or chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces

▢0.33 sweet potato (180g / 6.3 ounces), cut into long thick sticks (like English chips)
▢0.33 carrot (60g / 2.1 ounces), diagonally sliced
▢0.17 cabbage (320g / 0.7 pounds), shredded
▢6.67 leaves Korean perilla (35g / 1.2 ounces), thinly sliced
▢12 pieces Korean rice cakes (175g / 6.1 ounces), separated, if you use pre-packaged rice cakes, separate them first then soak in warm water for 10 minutes before you use them
▢Some cooking oil (2 to 3 Tbsp) - I used rice bran oil

Marinade Sauce
▢2 Tbsp gochujang Korean chili paste
▢1.33 Tbsp rice wine
▢0.67 Tbsp gochugaru Korean chili flakes

▢0.67 Tbsp soy sauce
▢0.67 Tbsp raw sugar
▢0.67 Tbsp minced garlic
▢0.67 tsp minced ginger
▢0.67 tsp Korean curry powder
▢0.33 onion (35g / 1.2 ounces), grated or minced
▢Few sprinkles ground black pepper

Instructions
1. Combine all the marinade ingredients in a bowl and mix them well. Pour the sauce over the chopped chicken and marinate for at least 30 mins. (Though I strongly recommend marinating it for at least 4 hrs, and if you can afford more time, for overnight for better flavored chicken. However if you are really short of time, 30 mins is OK.)
2. Preheat a large skillet on medium high heat and once heated add some cooking oil. Put all the vegetables and rice cakes into the skillet and add the meat on top. Cook them on medium high heat for 3-4 mins. Then reduce the heat to medium to medium low and cook further until all is cooked (about 10 - 15 mins). During cooking, stir often to avoid food sticking onto the pan. You can cover with a lid to speed up the cooking process.
3. Serve with rice and other Korean side dishes (optional)


Notes:
* 1 Tbsp = 15 ml

** How to Make Dak Galbi, the Restaurant Way, at HomeTypically, dak galbi is cooked and served in a large round cast iron pan at a restaurant. And I personally think it is essential that you eat it this way because it tastes so much better! Trust me! I use this cast iron skillet (12 inch) for my cooking and it's just perfect.

I love cooking dak galbi at the table (over the portable gas burner) so that we can eat it as things get ready. Typically, the cabbage and rice cakes cook the fastest and the sweet potato the last. If you were to wait until everything cooks then somethings could over cook as a result.

Prepare some lettuce, perilla leaves, sliced garlic, ssamjang (spicy dipping sauce) to make a wrap just like you would with other Korean BBQ.

When you are nearly finished the meal (make sure you leave some meat, vegetables and the sauce in the skillet), you can add some (cooked) udon noodles or rice and stir fry them. I typically use 1 cup of steamed rice, some chopped kimchi, a dash of sesame oil and some shredded seasoned seaweed. Some restaurants also crack an egg over the rice but I personally prefer without it. Also, I don't normally add additional sauce to cook the noodles or rice, but if you want you could add some gochujang (about 1 Tbsp) or make extra marinade then add it.



Approximate Nutrition Info (per serving)
Calories: 552kcal | Carbohydrates: 41g | Protein: 31g | Fat: 28g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 163mg | Sodium: 591mg | Potassium: 730mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 5800IU | Vitamin C: 33.7mg | Calcium: 75mg | Iron: 2.5mg