Thursday, May 30, 2013

haemul pajeon: korean seafood pancake

I like Korean food.

Well, not that I know many Korean dishes, but those that I have tried, I do like. Except Kongnamulguk, or Kongnamul-anything. As far as I am concerned, bean sprouts should not be classified as "food". *SHUDDER*

The LAM, on the other hand, detests Korean food. He does not like any form of kimchi, he dislikes cutting meat with a pair of scissors instead of a knife, and he does not like the sour-sweet-spicy taste that is common in so many Korean dishes.


The one thing that he will eat, and actually does like, is Pajeon.

We first ate pajeon at some Korean restaurant a few years ago, and the poor man was virtually on the verge of starvation when they brought out this dish. The LAM tried it and promptly christened it "Korean Pizza".

I always use lots of spring onion when I make pajeon. I love spring onion, and when they are cooked in this way, even the kids happily tuck in, never mind the vegetables.


I washed and cut the spring onion into rather large chunks. It is, after all, the star of the dish. ("Pa" meaning spring onion, and "jeon" meaning pancake).


I used pajeon pre-mix to make my pajeon. I have made it from scratch as well, and it is also really simple, but I always keep a pack of pre-mix for days when I am in a really hurry, and this week has been one of those weeks in which I have 101 things to do.

If you would like to make pajeon from scratch, I have also included the recipe below.


To the pre-mix, I added cold water and whisked to combine to form a batter. The batter must be thin if you want a crispy pancake.

Then I added my seafood - prawns as it was all I had in the freezer, but most times I would also add squid.


And all the spring onion.


Using a spoon, I stirred the mixture to coat the ingredients with the batter.


In a frying pan (I used a 28cm pan), I added the vegetable oil and once the oil was very hot, I poured the entire lot of mixture into the pan.

Using a spoon, I pushed the batter and ingredients to spread them out.


All that was left to do was to wait for the pajeon to brown. This may take a while - about 5-10 minutes, depending on how hot your stove can get.

Don't walk away.

Once the bottom of the pajeon is brown - you can peek periodically to check - flip it.


Wait for the other side to brown. DUM-DEE-DUM.

Cut the pajeon into pieces and serve it HOT, with the dipping sauce if you wish.


맛있게 드세요. :)

RECIPE
Haemul Pajeon (Serves 4)

Ingredients:
150g Pajeon pre-mix
255 ml cold water
200g prawns, or 100g prawns and 100g squid, cut
1 bunch spring onion, cut
2 tbs vegetable oil

Method:
1. Whisk pre-mix with cold water.
2. Add prawns and spring onion.
3. Stir to mix with a spoon.
4. Heat oil. Pour batter and ingredients into pan.
5. Fry until brown.
6. Flip, and brown other side.
7. Serve hot with dipping sauce, if desired.

For the dipping sauce:
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 tbs rice vinegar
1 stalk spring onion, minced
1 tsp garlic, minced
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp Korean dried hot chilli pepper flakes (optional)

Method:
1. Combine all the ingredients and stir to mix.

Pajeon Batter
Ingredients:
2 cups plain flour
2 eggs
3 tsp potato starch
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 1/2 cups cold water



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