It’s been soooo rainy lately, I’ve been trapped inside, which is not typical San Diego. But I honestly can’t complain, it’s given me a great excuse to get back in the kitchen. I thought after the holiday season things would calm down, but this rainy weather is what finally gave me a chance to relax, slow down, and get back to basics.

I made the mistake of going grocery shopping at Costco (buying in bulk is a blessing and a curse 😅). I couldn’t pass up a bag of 10 lbs of organic sweet potatoes for less than $10. Only now I have to find a way to consume 10 lbs of sweet potatoes. I love me a good baked/mashed sweet potato, but that baby food texture can get old after a while. So I decided to get back to my Polish roots and make a potato pancake with a little Korean influence to keep it interesting, and spicy 🔥.

It was also the perfect use for my Cleverona fry pan with detachable handle. It makes storage a breeze, and is perfect for use in the oven (also fantastic for camping!). It’s a seriously heavy duty pan, and makes switching between stovetop and oven cooking so much simpler! No more blazing hot handles, that you accidently brand yourself on after getting the pan out of the oven.

Korean Sweet Potato Pancake

Serves 4 (1/4 large pancake – 195 kcal, 6g fat, 30g carbs, 4g fiber, 5.5g protein)

Ingredients:

• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 x-large or 2 medium sweet potatoes
• 2 eggs, beaten (can sub 1/2 cup egg whites or 1/2 cup egg beaters)
• 2 tablespoons korean hot chili powder
• 2 tablespoons gochujang (more for drizzling)
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• sesame oil
• black sesame seeds
• Kewpie Mayo
• 1 green onion sliced

Equipment:

• box grater
• oven safe sauté pan
• clean kitchen towel

Instructions:

1. Wash sweet potato thoroughly, peeling isn’t necessary, just get down to grating using the large holes of a standard box grater.
2. It’s important the sweet potato be as dry as possible before cooking, wrap grated potato in clean kitchen towel and squeeze out as much moisture as possible.
3. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
4. Sauté onion and garlic with a few teaspoons sesame oil until translucent and cooked through.
5. Toss the cooked onion garlic mixture with the drained, grated sweet potato, beaten eggs, korean chili powder, soy sauce, and gochujang.
6. Heat a tablespoon of sesame oil in an oven safe pan. (I’m partial to my Cleverona fry pan with detachable handle).
7. Put the pancake mixture into the pan with the hot oil and lower the heat to medium/low. Flatten the mixture to fill the pan and make a cohesive pancake. Cook for approximately 5 min on the first side.
8. Simply “flip” the pancake (I know easier said than done!) to do this I turn off the burner and use a dinner plate the size of the pan and oven mitts to flip the pancake out, flip it again, and put it back in the pan uncooked side down.
9. Turn the burner back on and cook for another 5 minutes. If the first side isn’t golden enough for your liking, brush with a little more sesame oil before putting the pancake in the oven to finish for 15 min.
10. Take out of the oven, and garnish with a drizzle of more gochujang, and mayo. Sprinkle with your chopped green onion, and black sesame seeds, and of course, top with a fried egg to make it a meal.