Vietnamese Coconut Rice Flour Pancakes

Ingredients

• 150 g rice flour
• 4 tbsp cornflour
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 1 turmeric
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp cider vinegar
• 150 ml coconut milk
• 100 g red cabbage, thinly sliced
• 6 asparaguses, sliced into quarters lengthwise
• 100 g cauliflower, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp yondu vegetable umami, premium fish sauce or light soy sauce
• 2 tsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp sesame seed
• 1 tsp gochujang
• 150 ml cold sparkling water
• 2 shallots, sliced
• 100 g carrot, julienned
• 6 onions, halved and sliced lengthwise
• Pickled cucumber, to serve
• Fresh coriander, to serve

Method

1. Start with the dipping sauce so the flavours have time to mingle. Whisk the Yondu (or fish sauce or light soy), maple syrup, cider vinegar, gochujang and sesame seeds in a small bowl until the gochujang dissolves into a glossy, brick-red sauce. Taste — it should land sweet, sharp and salty in that order. Adjust now, not at the table.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the rice flour, cornflour, sea salt and turmeric until the powder is evenly golden with no white streaks. Toasting isn't on the cards here, but blooming the turmeric properly comes next — raw turmeric tastes dusty, hydrated turmeric tastes of itself.
3. Pour in the coconut milk first, whisking to a smooth paste, then loosen with the cold sparkling water until you have a batter the consistency of single cream. The bubbles in the sparkling water are what give you lacy edges later, so don't let it sit too long once mixed.
4. Fold the shallots, red cabbage, carrot, asparagus and cauliflower through the batter so every shred is coated in yellow. Taste a little of the batter on the tip of a spoon — season again with a pinch of salt if it feels flat. The vegetables soak up salt fast.
5. Heat half a tablespoon of olive oil in a 20cm non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat until it shimmers and a drop of batter sizzles on contact. Cook one pancake at a time — crowd the pan and the batter steams instead of crisping, and you lose the lace.
6. Scatter a quarter of the spring onions across the hot oil, then ladle in a quarter of the vegetable batter, spreading it to the edges with the back of the spoon.
7. Cook undisturbed for 3–5 minutes. You're looking for a deep golden, lacy underside and edges that lift cleanly away from the pan when you nudge them with a spatula. If it's still pale, give it another minute — colour is flavour here.
8. Flip carefully and cook the second side for 3 minutes more until crisp and set through. Slide onto a warm plate and repeat with the remaining oil, spring onions and batter to make four pancakes.
9. Just before serving, squeeze a little lime juice into the dipping sauce and stir — the acid sharpens the gochujang and lifts everything you've just built.
10. Snip each pancake into squares with kitchen scissors and pile onto a serving plate. Spoon the dipping sauce into a small bowl alongside, tumble the kimchi and microgreens around the pancakes, scatter the toasted sesame seeds over the top, and bring the lime wedges to the table for squeezing.