Haemul Pajeon

Pajeon is a Korean pancake, or as the Hubs calls it, "Korean chai tow kway". Typically eaten during birthdays and festive periods, I thought I'd make Seafood Pajeon (or 'Haemul Pajeon') for the Hubs over the weekend. It wasn't his birthday, but I needed to make "restitution"; I'd accidentally whacked him with an iron at the range and felt awful about it.

You'll need a small frying pan, like those cute little tiny ones you use to fry up a single egg, together with a larger one, to cook this. This makes flipping the pancake over a tonne easier.

Those of the domestic goddess sort may want to make their own pancake batter, but because I'm far from ever being one, I took the shortcut and bought the ready-mix batter "bisquick" from koryo mart.


Ingredients (makes one of a 3.5"-wide pancake, and we ate about 2-3 pancakes each, so multiply accordingly):
2 tbsp pancake batter
2 large fresh Tiger prawns, diced into half
1 large fresh sea scallop, diced into 4 quarters (you can opt to use other seafood like clams, mussels, or squid, it's entirely up to you)
a handful of spring onions, sliced into 2"-lengths (I used about 20 spring onions lengths for each pancake)
1 tbsp of a beaten egg, salted
2 tsp canola oil
Optional: sliced de-seeded large fresh red chilli

Cho-Gochu-Jang Dip:
1 tbsp gochujang (Korean red pepper paste)
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp sesame seeds


Directions:
1) The pancake comes together really fast, so set everything out by the stove.

2) Using the small pan, fry spring onions in oil until it's all toasty, almost crispy, on medium heat, about 2 minutes. If you like it spicy, add a couple of sliced red chillis here.

3) Add batter, barely covering the spring onions. You don't want it too thick, so batter sparingly.

4) After about 30 seconds, dot the seafood on top of the pancake.

5) Add the egg, a thin layer will do, as it acts as a "binding agent" to keep the whole thing together. Turn the heat up to medium-high, leave the pancake bottom to brown, about another 3-4 minutes.

6) Pre-heat the big frying pan with 1 tbsp canola oil. In one smooth swift motion, turn the pancake in the small pan over, and into the big frying pan. Leave to brown, another 3-4 minutes on medium-high heat.

7) Serve with cho-gochujang dip.


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