Crab and Vegetable Pancakes

Juana, author of La Cocina de Babel, brings us some savory oriental-style pancakes with crab and vegetables. A very tasty and healthy recipe — I assure you you'll enjoy these original fritters!

August, the month of heat, whether you have vacation or not everything moves at a slower pace and many of us feel like traveling.

In August everything is less complicated, we don't feel like working much, the kitchen becomes a place where we prepare fresh dishes, preferably quick and with the oven off — does that happen to you?

And thinking about heat, eating light and a strong desire to travel to distant countries, today I wanted to suggest some delicious Japanese-inspired pancakes, but cooked in my beloved French skillet. A thick-bottomed, sturdy skillet the perfect size to make my pancakes so they all come out the same… Flavors of Asia and French-style in one, what do you think?

Green Cosmos Bowl by Tokyo Design, cutting board and B French mineral iron skillet by De Buyer.

Ingredients (for four crab and vegetable pancakes)

• 2 spring onions
• 200gr cabbage
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 carrots
• 100gr bean sprouts
• 100gr canned crab meat
• 60gr flour
• 60ml water
• 2 eggs
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• Non-stick release spray

To serve:

• Hoisin Sauce
• Mint or cilantro leaves
• Red cabbage sprouts or another of your choice

Preparation

1. First we prepare the vegetables: on a cutting board and with a sharp knife, slice the spring onions (including the green part) and slice the cabbage as thinly as possible. Chop the garlic, peel and grate the carrots and set everything aside in a large bowl, reserving a handful of spring onion to use later for decorating the pancakes.
2. Drain and distribute the crab meat over the vegetables and add the flour, salt and pepper to taste.
3. In a small bowl whisk the eggs with the water and add this mixture to the previous one while stirring with a spatula until all the liquid is incorporated and the mixture is uniform and free of lumps. Don't expect there to be more batter than vegetables—in this case the flour and egg mixture acts as a kind of "glue" to bind and form the pancakes.
4. Spray our French skillet with release spray and heat it over high heat until very hot. At that point, spoon about three heaping tablespoons of our vegetable mixture, pressing it down with the back of the spoon until a pancake that covers the entire base of the skillet forms. Cook one minute, lower the heat to the minimum and continue cooking two more minutes; then flip the pancake using a plate, like a tortilla, raise the heat for one minute and after that continue on low heat for another two or three minutes, until the pancake looks golden and crispy.
5. Repeat the process with the rest of the batter until you have four delicious pancakes which we will serve with a teaspoon of Hoisin sauce spread over their surface, the reserved spring onion, the sprouts and mint leaves.

B French mineral iron skillet by De Buyer and Green Cosmos stoneware plate by Tokyo Design Studio.

Have a wonderful August!