{recipe} Potato, Radish, and Shallot Pancakes with Honey Soy Dipping Sauce

The other day one of my sisters foisted a big bag of radishes on me. “I love getting the CSA box delivered,” she said. “But what am I supposed to do with all these radishes?” Apparently, they send them every week. So she challenged me to create something delicious using radishes. Challenge: accepted, and in fact, totally rocked. These are terrific.

Have you ever tried looking for radish recipes? Most of them are kind of sad. They seem to follow one of a couple of common patterns:

• “Make some dip then dip a raw radish in it. Even though a carrot or a piece of pita bread would be like 10 times better.” (See Exhibit A and Exhibit B)
• “Make something that tastes delicious, and then put a couple of really thinly sliced radishes on it at the very end.” (See Exhibit C and Exhibit D)
• “Pickle the hell out of them so they become a vehicle for a spicy vinegar taste to get in your mouth.” (See Exhibit E and Exhibit F)
• “Put some butter and salt on a raw radish and act like that is a reasonable thing to do/eat.” (Ed. note: it is SO. NOT. So stop it.) 

But is it too much to ask to actually make something good with a radish? I was determined to find out so I adapted my tried-and-true, weirdly-multi-generational-family-recipe-since-we-are-totally-not-Korean Korean vegetable pancake recipe and gave it a try.

So yeah. It turns out you can totally make something good with a radish. Here it is.

Recipe: Potato, Radish, and Shallot Pancakes 
makes about 24 small pancakes

Note: I use a food processor to grate the vegetables.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup flour
• large pinch salt
• 1 medium russet potato, peeled and grated
• 10 radishes, root and stem ends cut off, grated
• 4-5 shallots, peeled and grated
• vegetable oil for frying

METHOD:

• In a large bowl, beat the eggs with 1/4 cup of water. Stir in flour and combine well (it’s OK if there are a few small lumps.) Stir in the grated vegetables and the salt. Combine well.
• Heat about 1/2 inch of vegetable oil in a large frying pan over medium high heat. When oil is hot, drop spoonfuls of batter into the oil, about 2 tablespoons worth per pancake. If needed, flatten gently into disks with the spatula.
• Brown on one side and then flip over. Make sure they are fully cooked with no raw dough inside. Remove to a plate covered with paper towels. When one layer is full, add more paper towels and place more on top. (This will keep the ones on the bottom warm.) Repeat until all are cooked.
• Serve hot with dipping sauce (recipe below.)

Recipe: Honey Soy Dipping Sauce

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 Tblsp soy sauce
• 3 Tblsp rice vinegar
• 2 tsp honey
• Sriracha or other hot sauce to taste (optional)
• toasted sesame seeds

METHOD:

• Combine soy sauce, vinegar, and honey in a bowl. Mix well with a fork. Add hot sauce to taste if using. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top to cover entire surface of sauce.