Bottle Gourd and Carrot Pancake 瓠瓜煎餅

Not sure about other countries but in Taiwan, bottle gourd usually comes in two color styles, one with homogeneous light green color all around, and the other intertwined with darker and lighter green patterns.

Usually I would prefer the fancier-looking bottle gourd, but the smallest one I could find at the market was the other kind, so I just went for it. To make the pancake, we'll only need about 1/3 of the medium sized bottle gourd, so try to source the smaller variety if you get to choose.

Bottle gourd and carrot pancake 瓠瓜煎餅 - 

Ingredients?

• 2 cups bottle gourd strips 
• 1 cup carrot strips
• 1 tablespoon dried shrimps
• 2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine 
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon white pepper powder
• Some salt
• 2 tablespoons preferred cooking oil

How?

Peel and cut the bottle gourd to strips. We'll need about 2 cups total and that is about 1/3 of a medium sized bottle gourd.

Transfer the bottle gourd strips to a bowl and add 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Give the strips a gentle rub in order to evenly blend with the salt. Let it sit for 10 minutes, the salt will start drawing out some moisture.

Once ready, drain and squeeze but not break the bottle gourd strips. Perhaps use a paper towel to wipe-off excess liquid.

Use 2 tablespoons of Chinese rice wine to soak the dried shrimps. Once softened, drain and finely chop the shrimps.

Peel and julienne the carrot. We will need about 1 cup of carrot strips, and that's about half of a medium carrot. Beat two eggs in a separate bowl.

Combine prepped bottle gourd strips with carrot strips and chopped dried shrimps in a big bowl. Also add two beaten eggs, 1/2 cup of flour, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and 1/8 teaspoon of white pepper powder. Give it a gentle mix till evenly blended.

You might have to adjust the consistency either by using more flour or perhaps add one more beaten egg in order to get a gooey batter in the end.

Non-stick pan will make the job easier, otherwise make sure to heat up other type of pan before searing the batter.

So drizzle two tablespoons of preferred cooking oil to the pan and switch to medium heat. Wait till the surface turns hot then pour in the batter. Flatten out the batter as soon as it hits the pan then stop moving it.

Wait till the bottom has been set and maybe even a bit golden browned. Flip and sear the other side till slightly colored.

I would recommend to sear the first side longer, so that once you flip the pancake, you don't have to sear the other side as long. That way you'll have a prettier brighter color side to plate on top.

So once both sides are cooked, transfer the pancake to a big serving plate. You can prepare some chili sauce on the side to eat along with. My personal favorite is chopped fresh red chilies in soy sauce.

Since only 1/3 of the bottle gourd was used, the other 2/3 was cut into strips and used in other thick soup dish. Nothing goes to waste.

The same idea for carrot. I chopped up the remaining 1/2 carrot and used in stir-fry dish with ground pork. 

Extended reading:

• Bitter gourd stir-fry with salted black beans

Egg Scallion and Shio Kombu Onigiri 蔥蛋塩昆布日式飯糰

Perhaps similar to a chicken wrap, onigiri is like Japanese's version of a quick simple meal or a snack on the go. However, fast and easy doesn't mean the onigiri must be boring and bland. Instead, we're going to use some of the super-matching ingredients to bring out that extra aroma, making some hella satisfying rice balls.

Egg scallion and shio kombu onigiri 蔥蛋塩昆布日式飯糰 - 

Ingredients (about 3 rice balls)?

• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons shio kombu 塩昆布
• 1 1/2 cups cooked short grain white rice
• 1 big dried nori sheet
• 2 strings scallion
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Some sesame oil
• Some salt

How?

Precook the rice. Once ready, fluff the rice and wait till some steam has been escaped. Oil a big mixing bowl to prevent sticking, I used sesame oil here.

Beat one egg with tiny pinch of salt. Drizzle one tablespoon of olive oil to a pan and switch to medium heat.

Once warm enough, pour in the beaten egg and start scramble the eggs to smaller pieces. Scoop out to oiled big mixing bowl that we prepped earlier.

Destem and chop the scallion. Add that to the bowl too together with about 1 1/2 cups of cooked rice. Also add 2 tablespoons of shio kombu and 1/2 teaspoon of sesame oil. Fluff while mixing these ingredients gently till evenly blended.

Trim the nori sheet to rectangular pieces, or you can use the snack-pack, the nori sheets inside usually come as rectangular shaped.

Divide the rice mixture to 2 or 3 equal portions. Roll and shape each portion to a ball. Remember to use some force so the rice can stick together, but not too hard and break the rice. Wrap the rice ball with nori sheet and serve immediately.

I had to take pictures, which takes time, otherwise it's best to enjoy the onigiri as soon as it's been wrapped with nori sheet. The nori sheet turns soft basically in the blink of an eye. But even with soggy nori sheet after some pictures, I still enjoyed this onigiri flavor combo, just love that salty touch from the shio kombu. 

Other onigiri recipes:

• Tuna and sesame oil rice balls
• Hijiki and inari age onigiri 羊栖菜豆皮飯糰