my first ‘pajeon’ (korean vegetable pancake)
as seen in foodgawker #13278, 13.01.09
Pajeon is a traditional Korean pancake which is served as appetizer. It is a savory pancake which eats with a soy sauce & rice vinegar dipping sauce.
Tonight I have made the Korean Pancakes for the first time using a pack of Korean Pancake mix I bought recently in Zurich. It turned out great! I made a vegetable version without any seafood as I had been out the whole day and have to make something relatively simple but nice for dinner. Secondly, I wanted to try out to make sure I can make it successfully for the first time. I have been thinking if I should blog this as I did not make these pancakes completely from scratch, but they turned out so delicious that I thought good things should spread out more.
Meanwhile, I may have made a mistake by adding 2 eggs to the mix but they still turned out no problem, probably because the water I added was adjusted with a few tbsp more, I think as long as I can get the right consistency, it should be fine.
Normally when I visit the Korean restaurants, I actually do not fancy Pajeon too much as there are many other dishes for me to try and I need to save my stomach for my other favorite dishes. But tonight, I made this as a main dish, I could really enjoy Pajeon more properly. My hubby and I were both amazed how this vegetable dish could taste so fantastic that we didn’t feel we miss the meat tonight and he said we must repeat this again and try other variations.
And for my first time, I have adapted the recipes from Nook & Pantry and Home Cooking Diary. Thanks for the inspiration and tips.
Yield 6-7 pancakes
Ingredients:
Batter:
- 300g Korean Pancake Mix
- 400g cold water
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Pinches of white pepper
- 1 clove freshly minced garlic (I think the garlic made a difference especially for a all vegetable pancake)
Fillings:
- 1 50g chinese chives – cut into 5cm pieces and only use the green parts
- 1 carrot – grated
- 1 zucchini -grated
Dipping sauce:
- 3 tbsp Soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Rice Vinegar (I used the Japanese ones which is used for sushi)
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp chopped green onion (optional)
- Korean Chili Sauce (Optional)
Method:
- Prepare the vegetables as described above.
- Prepare the batter in a large mixing bowl by whisking the above ingredients until you get everything dissolved and a thick consistency mixture.
- Heat up a non-stick pan at medium high heat, add 2 tbsp of cooking oil to the pan.
- Instead of mixing all fillings into the batter, use a separate medium sized bowl, pour 2 spoonfuls of batter into the bowl and then add handful of carrots, zucchini and chives into the batter and mix well.
- Pour the mixture into the pan, shake gently to get the pancake flattened out evenly on the pan.
- Let it cook for about 3-4 mins and then flip to the other side and cook for another 3-4 mins. The cooked pancakes should be a bit crispy on the outside. (if you have 2 pans, you can panfry 2 pancakes simultaneously)
- Turn the pancake to a big plate and cut into pieces with a pizza cutter.
- Serve immediately with the dipping sauce. You can prepare one spicy and one non-spicy dipping sauce for kids.
Enjoy!
I have found the following versions which I may try out in the future:
- If you like to make the batter from scratch, try this one from Korean restaurant guide
- Peter from Home Cooking Diary have enough variations to try out.
- Here is another version from NY Times
I love that speciality! This pancake looks delicious!
Cheers,
Rosa
I’m really intrigued and need to hunt some of this mix down! There is a Korean restaurant I really like which do a seafood pancake starter and its gorgeous, this coming from someones who actually dislikes normal pancakes! It has tender squid in and very subtle but delicious flavourings
This looks really delicious – my only experience of Korean food was at Our International food evening at Oslo International School, but I don’t remember exactly what we had other than quite a strange looking drink, with I think a root of ginseng in the bottle. Great evening though!!
This looks very nice – and I love pancakes of all sorts. Where in Zurich did you get the pancake mix.
Looks really delicious! I love putting kimchi or seafood in these pancakes.
Looks gorgeous!!
Looks great. What’s the difference between Korean pancake mix and any other? I have lived in small towns needless to say I have never seen or heard of it before. Thanks
Hi Janet,
I am about to post about okonomiyaki, the Japanese pancake with cabbage, and got to thinking about how it’s sort of like Korean pancakes, so as usual I’m distracted by surfing for information about them. I think some mixes contain mung bean starch. But this seems to indicate you can use potato starch instead (or other kind of starch):
http://www.maangchi.com/recipes/ya-chae-jeon#comment-979
(The store where I find many fresh vegetables for my Japanese cooking is Korean, and they have lots of different pancake mix brands, but I’ve never tried any of them.)
Hi Anne, Great to hear you like Korean Pancakes. The one you describes sounds awesome!
Hi Gabriele, the shop is just steps from the main train station, just off the Bahnhofstrasse. It’s called YumiHana, at Schützengasse 7. Thanks for stopping by.
Hi Sharonrose, good question, I don’t know the difference either. The Pajeon has a slightly different chewiness texture than to other pancakes such as the French, American and Dutch ones. I read that even most Koreans use this mix at home than to making it from scratch themselves as the premixed flour tastes better. The main difference perhaps is that the Korean pancake mix contains salt and some mixed seasoning which makes it a savoury pancake and it contains corn starch and baking powder.
Hi Tess, I have been thinking to make okonomiyaki too but seems a lot of steps and quite a bit preparation work. Look forward to reading your post : ) I will check out the link you provided, thanks a lot for the info. I have finished the korean pancake mix and would be nice if I can make it from scratch at home. I don’t go to Zurich that often.