Asian Cabbage Pancakes with Spicy Bean Dipping Sauce

My cabbages are thriving in Michigan’s December garden, with temperatures close to 60 degrees.

This easy, healthy recipe will satisfy three or four appetites, any cravings for upscale Asian cuisine, and cost less than 5 bucks to make. Even less, as in my case, as I’ve yet to harvest my purple cabbages (albeit, a bit frozen at the core) resting happily in the backyard. Who says the Michigan vegetable gardening season is short when you can harvest baby lettuce in early May and cabbages in early December?

All of this cabbage demands creativity. The internet is filled with recipes for Japanese pancakes — some simple, some complex — and I combined several of them to adapt to the ingredients I have in my kitchen. Why run to the store for a bottle of Hoisin sauce when a Brown Bean Sauce begs to be used?

I flatten the cakes with a spatula as they brown and crisp.

I was pretty darned pleased with the results of this experiment. I don’t remember ever seeing sour cream incorporated into Asian fare, but combining the sour cream with black bean sauce was the perfect, essential, stroke. I’ve enjoyed Russian blinis with sour cream in the past — why not in this recipe as well?

Of course you may adapt any of the ingredients below to what you have on hand: green cabbage for purple, white flour for whole wheat, scallions for leeks, hoisin sauce for spicy bean; all would be scrumptious.