Korean Seafood Pancake / Haemul-jeon

This recipe is inspired by my favourite youtuber, Korean chef, Maangchi. Her Korean home-cooking is easy to follow. I learnt most of my Korean dishes from her videos.

I like the concept of Korean pancakes, to coat everything with thin batter. Vegetable pancake is the one I make often. Choose vegetables you like, slice, simply season with salt, coat with thin batter, then pan-fry, so simple. Kids are willing to eat a lot of vegetable in this way.

Unlike many other types of pancakes, Korean seafood pancakes are usually side dish, served with steamed rice, and can be eaten cold. I guess that’s why it’s not coated with thick batter. But I prefer to eat them right off the pan when they are hot and crispy. In this recipe, I change the proportion of ingredients according to my preference.

Ingredients – (this amount of ingredients can produce 8 half-palm size pancakes)
Mixed seafood, 200g. I used frozen shrimp, squid and clam. Mix and match whatever you like, frozen or fresh;
Egg, 1;
Leek, 100g;
Carrot, 100g;
Thai red chili, 2;
All purpose flour, 1 cup;
Cornstarch, 1/2 cup;
Water, 1cup;
Salt, 1tsp;
Black pepper, a pinch.

How to do –
1. Do some chopping first. All seafood cut into about 1.5 cm dices; carrot cut into small slices; leek sliced; chili seeded and thinly sliced;

2. Put everything in a big mixing bowl, add 1 egg, seasoned with 1tsp of salt and a pinch of black pepper, mix well;

3. Put in 1cup of all purpose of flour, half cup of cornstarch and a cup of water. Cornstarch can make the pancake crispy. Mix well till the batter is thick but not runny, adjust with a little more water or flour;

4. Heat generous amount of olive oil in a hot flat-bottom pan, spoon in the batter. Pan-fry both sides till golden and cooked in medium heat, then turn to high heat, pan-fry double sided for about 10 seconds to release extra oil and crisp the edges;

5. Serve right away.