The Pajeon is the first course of the Welcome Spring Menu, for the #buildthemenu section.
It’s a Korean “jeon” (a sort of fritter, pancake) made with scallions (“pa”) – the green part – at the base, combined with chili pepper and a batter of rice flour and wheat flour, sparkling water, eggs, and doenjang (soybean paste).
There are different types of Jeon: meat (yuk-jeon) and potato (gamja-jeon), white fish (saengseon-jeon) and seafood (haemul pajeon) and with vegetables (chaeso-jeon).
There are also some sweet varieties of jeon, such as those based on edible flowers (hwajeon) and honey.
They can be served as an appetizer, banchan (side dish) or anju (food served and consumed with drinks).
Koreans love to eat them on rainy days, accompanied by the typical local drink Makgeolli, which is Korean rice wine.
The Dongnae pajeon (the second recipe) includes the addition of gochujang (a fermented, salty, sweet, and spicy sauce) and is named after Dongnaesung (동래성), an ancient fortress of the Joseon dynasty and now a neighborhood in the city of Busan.
Dongnae was an important battlefield during the Imjin War and legend says that the people of Dongnae threw shallots while defeating the invading Japanese soldiers. Dongnae pajeon was made in honor of the victory.
It appears similar to a Chinese pancake, the Cong you bing, but differs in that it consists of a liquid batter and thus has a lighter consistency.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Affordable
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4 people
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Korean
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 2 oz flour
- 2 oz rice flour
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1 cup sparkling water (cold)
- 1 egg
- to taste salt
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon doenjang
- to taste vegetable oil
- 1 scallion
Steps
In a bowl, combine the flours, sugar, salt, egg, gradually pouring in the sparkling water, and finally the grated garlic and doenjang; mix well.
Slice the scallion, its green part, lengthwise, to obtain a sort of matchstick.Heat the oil in a pan and distribute some of the batter on top, followed by the scallion, and then (when the bottom is well set and golden, flip, and if desired, you can also add chili pepper).
Serve with soy sauce or a sauce made with: soy sauce, honey, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and water.
The dongnae pajeon is usually prepared by adding to the rice flour batter, glutinous rice flour, eggs, and gochujang (1 tablespoon).
Sometimes beef, clams, mussels, oysters, shrimp, or other seafood are also added.
