Jim Dixon wrote about food for WW for more than 20 years, but these days most of his time is spent at his olive oil-focused specialty food business Wellspent Market. Jim’s always loved to eat, and he encourages his customers to cook by sending them recipes every week through his newsletter. We’re happy to have him back creating some special dishes just for WW readers.

While Korean street food goes back to the 1300s, when vendor stalls surrounded markets during the 500-year Joseon Dynasty, it really took off after World War II and the Korean War, when refugees and American troops crowded into the cities of South Korea. Traditional steamed buns filled with bean paste eventually gave way to more westernized foods, eventually leading to what’s been called the most popular street food in Korea today: a cabbage omelet with American cheese on white bread called gilgeori toast.

Vendors on the streets of Seoul mix thinly sliced cabbage, carrot, and green onion with eggs, shape the batter into a Wonder Bread-esque square on the griddle, and assemble a sandwich with American cheese, sometimes a slice of ham, ketchup, mayo, and, surprisingly, a sprinkling of sugar.

I’ve made gilgeori toast, and it’s both delicious and messy—the juicy vegetables and condiments oozing from the soft bread with every bite. But sometimes I want something a little more manageable, and realized I could make the cabbage and egg part of the sandwich more like a vegetable fritter. So I added some panko, a little fish sauce, and a bit of the mild Korean-style chile called gochugaru.

Soft burger buns provide the texture of white bread but offer more structure, so less of the sandwich runs down your arm. I can’t say for certain that the recommendation in this New York Times recipe comes from the popular practice of adding a schmear of jam to a classic bacon-egg-and-cheese sandwich, but it adds more flavor than plain white sugar. I tried the optional ham slice, and I prefer them without it, but it’s your call.

This recipe makes eight fritters to match the standard package of buns. If you’re not feeding a crowd, leave the cheese off and store the cooked fritters in the refrigerator. Heat them later under the broiler or in the oven, adding the cheese to melt while you grill the buns.

Korean-style Street Toast Fritters

1/4 head green cabbage, thinly sliced, about 3 cups

1 medium carrot, grated

2 green onions, sliced

3 eggs

1/4 cup panko bread crumbs

1 teaspoon fish sauce, optional

1 teaspoon gochugaru Korean-style chile flake, optional

1/2 teaspoon salt

Extra-virgin olive oil for frying

Hamburger buns

American or cheddar cheese

Ham slices

Ketchup, mayo, jam (strawberry or raspberry)

Mix the vegetables, eggs, panko, fish sauce, chile flakes and salt in a bowl. Heat enough oil to cover the bottom of a heavy skillet, and spoon about 1/2 cup of the fritter mix into the skillet, gently shaping it into a bun-sized circle with a spoon. You can cook three to four fritters at a time, but don’t crowd them.

Cook for about 4 minutes or until the egg has set and the bottom is lightly browned. Carefully flip and cook the other side, adding a slice of cheese to each fritter. If you’re going with the ham, brown the slices briefly in the skillet with the buns.

Grill the buns, cut side down, in the same skillet, adding a little more olive oil if necessary. Spread a thin layer of ketchup and mayonnaise on one side of the bun, some jam on the other. Add the fritter and eat.