Jeon: The Korean Pancake

From Kimchi to Seafood to Green Onions, these are not the pancakes you are used to.

Spinach Jeon

Korean pancakes are only pancakes in the sense that they are food coated in flour and then pan fried in oil. However, they are not a breakfast food nor a sweet food. The korean word jeon is utilized to describe these pancakes and varies in filling from vegetables to meat . This recipe is for a vegetable based jeon and though I utilized zucchini any vegetable can be substituted in. The only thing to beware of is the water content of the vegetable. Vegetables such as kale and spinach release a lot of liquid when cooked and will make the pancake soggy. Therefore they should be cooked, and then wrapped and squeezed in a paper towel to remove excess liquid. Vegetables such as carrots or potatoes do not have to be cooked beforehand just wrung out to remove moisture. This recipe for Zucchini Pancakes is as follows:

The ingredients:

Zucchini Pancake-

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup rice flour

1 egg

1 cup ice water

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 cup zucchini, grated

½ tsp Garlic powder

½ tsp Onion powder

1 tsp Salt

½ tsp Pepper

1 tbsp gochujang (Korean Red Pepper Paste), optional

Oil for pan frying

2 ea green onions

Dipping sauce-

1 tbsp Soy sauce

1 tbsp Rice wine vinegar

1 tsp sugar

Procedure:

1. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, egg, and ice water. This will create a batter.

2. Place zucchini in a paper towel and squeeze until the zucchini stops releasing water. Mix zucchini into batter.

3. Add sesame oil, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, and gochujang into the batter.

4. Heat a medium non-stick sauteuse to medium heat with a light coat of oil. Pour in ¼ cup of batter for large pancakes the size of the pan or 2 tbsp for smaller patties.

5. Cook the pancake until the batter the top starts to turn more opaque and the bottom is golden brown, then flip. Cook for the same amount of time on the other side.

6. When both sides have been fully cooked, remove the pancake from the pan and place on a paper towel. This is to collect excess oil from pan frying.

7. Repeat Steps 4-6 until all the batter is used.

8. Mix together soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, and sugar to form dipping sauce.

9. Serve with large pancakes cut into triangles or small pancakes left whole, and sliced green onions.