Making Korean green onion pancakes and kimchi pancakes for a rainy day

What kind of food are Korean green onion pancakes and kimchi pancakes?

Pajeon and kimchi pancake are the most frequently cooked pancakes in Korean homes. Pajeon is a savory dish made with the scent of chives or green onions, while kimchi pancake is made by adding the sour and spicy taste of ripe kimchi to the batter. Both have simple ingredients, but the key to their taste is cooking them crispy on the outside and moist on the inside.

If you search for green onion pancakes and kimchi pancakes in 10,000 Recipes, you will see various combinations such as crispy seafood pancakes, Baek Jong-won style kimchi pancakes, and kimchi green onion pancakes. Today, we have carefully summarized how to prepare seafood and green onion pancakes and kimchi pancakes together, based on a basic dough that is easy to follow at home.

Ingredients Preparation

For the basic dough, prepare 1 cup of pancake powder, 2 tablespoons of potato starch, 1 cup of cold water, and 1 egg. If you want to make it more crispy, it is better to use ice water instead of water and not stir the dough for a long time to make it sticky. Mixing a little starch will keep the edges crispy for a long time.

Ingredients for pajeon include 1 handful of chives or green onions, a few onions, and a handful of seafood such as squid and shrimp. Ingredients for kimchi pancake include 1 cup of well-ripened cabbage kimchi, 2-3 tablespoons of kimchi broth, a few onions, and Cheongyang pepper or red pepper as desired. To make soy sauce, mix 2 tablespoons of dark soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of vinegar, 1 tablespoon of water, a little red pepper powder, and sesame seeds.

Dough and ingredients preparation

Cut the chives lengthwise according to the size of the pan, and drain the seafood. If there is too much water in the seafood, the batter may become thin and the pancakes may become soggy. Cut the kimchi into bite-sized pieces, and strain the kimchi broth through a sieve to reduce large lumps of seasoning so that the color of the batter is even.

To make the dough, first mix the pancake powder and starch, then add cold water and eggs and lightly knead. The batter for green onion pancakes should be a little thin, and the batter for kimchi pancakes contains kimchi broth, so it is easy to fry if you keep it slightly thick.

How to fry green onion pancakes

Heat the pan sufficiently and add a generous amount of cooking oil. Arrange the chives first, spread a thin layer of batter on top, and then top with the seafood. Wait until the edges turn golden brown over medium-high heat and turn over at once. If you flip it frequently, it will lose its shape and become less crispy.

After turning it over, lightly press it with a spatula to cook it all the way through. Add a little more oil around the edge of the pan to create a crispy edge. The finished pajeon will have a neater shape if you let it cool for about a minute and then slice it rather than cutting it right away.

How to make kimchi pancakes

To make kimchi pancake, mix sliced kimchi, onions, and peppers into a batter and spread it thinly on a pan. If you put it on thick, it can easily become soggy, so it is best to scoop it up with a ladle and spread it out in a round, thin layer. Since kimchi has its own seasoning, there is no need to add salt.

After the bottom is cooked hard over medium-high heat, flip it over and raise the heat to high for the last 30 seconds to remove moisture from the outside. Too little oil will make it less crispy, and too much oil will make it heavy, so keep it just enough to lightly coat the bottom of the pan.

Tips for enjoying delicious food

When you eat green onion pancakes with a little soy sauce, the scent of green onions and the rich taste of seafood come to life. You can eat kimchi pancake as is, but adding sour soy sauce will reduce the greasiness. You can regain some of the crispiness by refrigerating leftover pancakes and reheating them in a dry pan or air fryer.

It's great as a snack on a rainy day or as a side dish with makgeolli, and it goes well with a meal as a small side dish. If you make two types of pancakes with the same dough, the ingredients will be simple to prepare, but your dinner table will be much richer.