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Prep time
35 minutes
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Cook time
15 minutes
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Serves
4-6
Author Notes
My daughter loves pasta with a garlicky clam sauce while my son wants 'stick-to-the-bones' food. They never could agree, so I created this recipe many years ago as a come-together-dish. And as every busy mom knows, shortcuts start taking preference. So instead of individual pancakes, now we cook it as one big griddle cake, and cut it like a pie, then serve the sauce over each serving. East please meet West. —BoulderGalinTokyo
Ingredients
- Bacon-Cumin Cornbread Griddle Cakes
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1 cup
organic corn meal
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1 cup
milk
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200
grams (7 ounces) block bacon, sliced or diced
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1
egg
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3/4 cup
whole-wheat pastry flour
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1 tablespoon
baking powder
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1 tablespoon
cumin seeds (or half seeds, half ground cumin)
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1 teaspoon
crushed oregano
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salt, if needed (there is bacon in it)
- Clam Scallion Garlic Sauce
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1 teaspoon
olive oil
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7
scallions, white-part sliced 1/2 inch and green-part sliced 1/4 inch. Keep separated
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5
cloves garlic, sliced
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1 pound
fresh shelled Manila or littleneck clams (frozen ok)
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1 1/2 cups
dashi (see note) or veg. broth or bottled clam broth
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4 tablespoons
sake or white wine
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3 tablespoons
sugar
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3 tablespoons
soy sauce, Kikkoman Lite
Directions
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In large mixing bowl, put cornmeal and pour in milk. Mix. Let sit while cooking the bacon.
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Bacon can be 1/4-inch cubed first, or cook slices and crumble after cooking. Cook until crispy. Remove from skillet. Cool.
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Add egg to cornmeal and mix together.
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Mix flour, cumin, oregano and baking powder. Add these dry ingredients to cornmeal mixture. Add bacon and mix well.
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Leave about 2 teaspoons of bacon grease in the pan (throw rest away). Heat pan quite hot, then pour entire batter into pan. Lower heat to medium-low. Cook until bubbles appear on top, around 8 minutes. Turn over. (Or if too heavy, just cover pan) Lift side of griddle cake to see if done.
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Make Clam Scallion Garlic Sauce: First, make A & B here.
A: Mix sake, soy sauce, and sugar in a small bowl. Set aside.
B: Mix katakuriko (potato starch) 4 teaspoons in 4 teaspoons of water. Set aside. You can use corn starch (but I believe the measurement might be different)
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In a sauce pan heat the broth or dashi to a boil. Add white parts of scallions and Mixture A. Cook about 2 -3 minutes.
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Add clams and green parts of scallions to sauce. Bring to a boil again and cook a minute or so, then mix B above once again, then add to the clam sauce stirring constantly. When clam sauce thickens, it is done. Don't keep cooking or scallions will loose green color.
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Dashi: I like konbu(sea vegetable) dashi better than katsuo (bonito flakes). Easier to clean up too. Just boil a piece of konbu in water for awhile (10 minutes). But you can buy bottled dashi-just remember that it is concentrated so you need to add water.
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Cut the griddle cake in the size portion you want. Spoon clam sauce over the griddle cake and eat immediately. (If it sits for awhile it will soak up the sauce).
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My cooking is low sodium, so you can add more soy sauce or a touch of salt, but add a little, taste, then add more if you like.
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