Pajeon (Korean seafood and spring onion pancakes)

[Stravaig]

I sort of follow John Torode's method from his Sydney to Seoul cookbook. But I spice mine up a bit by adding a bit of shichimi (Japanese seven spice) and a blat of tabasco. I think the pancake would be rather bland otherwise. Just chuck in whatever you have or whatever you fancy.

The basic ingredients are:
1 teaspoon baking powder
150g self-raising flour
200ml cold water
100g mixed prawns and squid, chopped
Veg oil for frying
5 spring onions trimmed and quartered lengthways

John then goes on to make a "net" with the spring onions (ie he places them carefully in a chequered pattern). That seems too much of a faff to me. I just bung the onions into the frying pan and sweat them off.

Make a batter out of the baking powder and flour by adding the water and mixing. Next add in the chopped seafood.

After you've sweated off the spring onions, add the batter mix and fry your pancake. Don't make the pancake too thick or you risk having raw flour in the middle. Better to make two thin pancakes than one big fat one.

Enjoy! It's very quick and easy to make. If you make this please do let us know how you get on.

[Stravaig]

Sorry, I forgot to mention the pancake is usually served with a dipping sauce.

You can make your own:
John Torode's recipe
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 (half) teaspoon good quality sesame oil
1 teaspoon sesame seeds

I don't bother with this. I just use whatever happens to be lurking in the fridge, eg Thai pad thai sauce, Japanese okonomiyaki sauce, whatever.

[Stravaig]

I'm not usually a fan of "fusion" cooking - CONfusion more like. But Korean food lends itself really well to all kinds of things. There's even a growing trend for Ko-Mex (Korean/Mexican - a marriage made in heaven).

Judy Joo's Korean Soul Food is a super book and she highlights how Korean food can so easily be adapted to suit other cuisines, eg how about an English Bibim-Breakfast?

[Westi]

Cheers Stravaig!

I think your idea of adding spices to the batter is what was missing from the recipes I found! Looking forward to trying that!

[Stravaig]

An additional thought, Westi - you can add kimchi to the pancake to give it a bit more punch. I always buy Korean kimchi if I can get hold of it, or I make my own. I generally find that the British-made kimchi is too bland.