Korean Spring Onion Pancake~ Pa Jeon 파전

Pa Jeon is the second dish that I learnt to cook Korean food. A quick and easy ready snack that I would make when we feel like want to eat deep frying food especially on rainy days. I believe everyone can make pa-jeon at home easily. Just mix the ingredients and buchim-garu (pancake mix) and fry it on a pan, and it is done. Buchim-garu is commonly sell at local supermarket's Korean/Japanese products section. If you unable to get buchimgaru, substitute it with all purpose flour, a little corn starch, a pinch of salt and some sugar, it works well too. What I am sharing here is the most basic pajeon using only spring onion and pancake mix. With the same recipe, it can turn into haemul-jeon 해물파전 by add in desired seafood (chop into bite size) such as prawns, squids, oyster etc on top of the spring onions before pour in the batter. Or, replace the spring onion to garlic chives and it will become Buchu-jeon 부추전. One recipe can make three types of jeon.

Ingredient (2 servings):

Spring Onion 6-8 stalks

Pancake mix - ½ cup**

Water - ½ Cup

**Substitute for pancake mix: 

All purpose flour ½ cup, 1 tbsp corn starch, ¼ teaspoon salt & ½ teaspoon sugar

To make Dipping Sauce:

Soy Sauce - 2 Tablespoon

vinegar - 1 Teaspoon

Chili Pepper Flakes - 1 Teaspoon

Sesame Seed - 1 Teaspoon

How to Cook:

Step 1.
Wash and clean the spring onion thoroughly, arrange them in line according to the root, chop out the root, then chop it into 15cm length equally.

Step 2.
Mix 1/2 cup of pancake mix with 1/2 cup of water to make batter. We like our pajeon a little thick on the batter, if you like thinner layer, reduce the flour to 1/3 cup and water 1/3 cup. Flour and water ratio is 1:1.

Step 3. 

On a heated pan, add 2 tablespoon of cooking oil into the pan and spread oil all over the pan. First add in the spring onions into the pan parallel, then pour in the batter evenly on the spring onions and spread it evenly.

Step 4.

On medium heat, cook for about 3 minutes. Cook until the bottom turn crispy and golden brown, flip it over to another side and continue to cook for another 3 minutes or more until it is done. Gently press on the batter to make the jeon flatter while it is cooking.

Make dipping sauce:- 2 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 teaspoon vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon of red chilli pepper flakes and 1 teaspoon sesame seed into a sauce bowl and mix well. Use a scissor to cut the pancake into desire size. I normally cut 3 x 3 x 2 = 8 pieces since it is 2 servings. Enjoy the pajeon with dipping sauce.

Korean Potato Pancake~ Gamja Jeon 감자전

Another simple banchan that I will made especially when there's no meat on the table. I've tried out few Gamja-jeon recipes in the past. Recipe A asked to add-in extra potato starch. Recipe B recommend add in grated onion into the potato paste. Recipe C - grind the potato with water in blender, separate the paste & water then get starch from the water and mix again. Recipe D - julienne the potatoes & add in extra vegetables together before pan-fried, etc. As a conclusion, why so hassle? Just grated manually, add a pinch of salt and pan-fry till perfection, simple, easy and delicious.

Ingredient :
1 Large Potato (250gram)

Dipping Sauce:
Soya sauce - 2 tablespoons
Water - 1 tablespoon
Vinegar - 1tablespoon
1/2 Red chilli pepper - slice
1/4 Yellow onion - thinly slice
1 stalk of Green Onion - finely chop
1-2 pinch of sugar

How to cook :

Step 1.

Peel and grate the 250gm potato by using a grater. 1 large size potato can make 1 potato pancake that served 2 adults.

Step 2.

Add a pinch of salt into the grated potato. It is normal that some the grated potatoes turn dark due to oxidize. 

Step 3.

Heat up the frying pan on medium high heat, add 2 tablespoons of cooking oil, spread the oil all over the pan evenly. Add in the grated potato and spread it evenly into round shape by using a spatula. Cook until the bottom edge of the Gamja Jeon turn golden crips. usually it takes about 2-3 minutes over medium high heat.

Step 4.

Flip over and let it cook for another 2-3 minutes until it turn crips then it is done! I like my Gamja-jeon thin, and I am using a 30cm frying pan here. 

Step 5.

The chili pepper slice for ganish suppose to place on top of uncook gamja jeon, gently press it so it could attached nicely before flip over to cook on it (on step 3, before step 4). Don't forget to make dipping sauce with the recipe stated at ingredients. This dipping sauce is suitable for simple Jeon like Gamja Jeon.