Haemul Pajeon (Korean Seafood Scallion Pancake) — Haru Eats

In this article, I’m going to teach you how to make haemul pajeon.

Haemul pajeon is one of the most appetizing and delicious Korean snack/lunch/dinner in the world! You see what I did there? You can eat haemul pajeon for almost any occasions. It’s great for parties, meal-for-two, or for a late-night Netflix sesh.

What is Haemul Pajeon?

Haemul means seafood and pajeon means scallion pancake in Korean.

There are a lot of jeon recipes out there, such as beef jeon and kimchi jeon. In my opinion though, haemul pajeon tastes the best because you can add all kind of seafood ingredients and get a variety of taste and flavors. Because of this, you can think of haemul pajeon as sort of a higher-tier snack.

My mom used to make this jeon all the time when I was growing up. She was especially fond of making them on cold and rainy days. Til this day, there is a certain romantic notion that I have about eating haemul pajeon on rainy days. It just makes my heart feel warm whenever I can eat haemul pajeon with the sound of rain in the background.

Haemul pajeon is made by mixing seafood and scallions in a batter of egg and flour and cooking them like you would a pancake. You can enjoy this jeon with a side of soy sauce or eat it as it is. No matter your choice, it’ll always taste savory and delicious.

Haemul pajeon is widely consumed mainly by older Koreans (with a side of makkeoli or Korean rice wine); however, more young Koreans now enjoy eating haemul pajeon on a regular basis. It’s sort of become the equivalent to American nachos and cheese, if you will.

Since haemul pajeon is neither too spicy nor too sweet (as is the case for many Korean food), it’s the best introductory Korean food for those who want to eat Korean food for the first time. As such, I highly recommend trying haemul pajeon if you want a taste of authentic Korean food for the first time!

Tips for making haemul pajeon

• Use more oil than usual to achieve a crispier texture. Haemul pajeon tastes better when the outer edges are fried and crispy. Besides, this jeon is a guilty pleasure, so the crispier the better!
• Use whatever seafood that you like the best. Most pajeon can be made with one or two seafood ingredients (shrimp and squid. My favorites). Some people like to add oysters and scallops. The sky is the limit when it comes to choices. However, try to limit your choices up to three or less otherwise your haemul pajeon will have an overwhelmingly seafoodie taste.
• Finally, haemul pajeon pair very well with makkeoli which is a traditional Korean rice wine. You can find makkeoli at your nearest Korean/Asian supermarket. This jeon also goes well with the Korean rice liquor soju and beer!

Like this recipe? Try these other delicious Korean recipes!

• Tteokbokki Korean Spicy Rice Cake
• Galbi Jjim (Korean Braised Short Ribs)
• Jangjorim (Korean Soy Braised Beef)
• Marinated Korean BBQ
• Kimchi Jeon (Korean Kimchi Jeon)

Ingredients:

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• 2 cups of your favorite seafood cut into bite sizes (squid, cuttlefish, octopus, shrimp, oysters, etc.)
• 1 tbsp. sesame oil
• 1 bunch stalks of mini-sized scallions
• Pinch of salt
• Pinch of pepper
• 1 tsp. garlic powder (optional)

Batter

• 1 cup Korean pancake mix, buchim garu, 부침가루
• 1 cup of cold water

Dipping Sauce

• 1 tbsp. soy sauce
• 2 tsp. vinegar
• 1/2 tbsp. water
• 1 tsp. of black pepper
• Pinch of Korean red chili pepper powder (gochugaru)
• 1 tbsp. chopped scallion
• 1 tbsp. diced onion

Instructions

1. Cut the seafood into bite sized pieces and wash them thoroughly in water. Cut off the white stem parts of the scallions (see notes for an alternative method).

2. Add the Korean pancake mix with cold water. Cold water lessens the smell of seafood and gives the pancake a chewier texture. Next, add the seafood, scallions, salt, and pepper into the mixture and stir. The batter should have the consistency of an American pancake batter. if the batter is too thick, add two tablespoon of water and mix well.

3. Turn the stove to a medium heat. In a round-sized pan, add 1/2 to 3/4 tablespoon of sesame oil and spread it out evenly. After one minute, ladle the seafood batter on the pan. A rule of thumb when it comes to ladling the right amount of batter is to make sure the batter almost touches the side of the pan (but doesn’t). This will make flipping the pancake later much easier.

4. After 3 minutes, flip over the pancake and lightly press on the pancake to cook the seafood all the way through.

5. Cook for an additional three minutes and take out the pancake. Cut the pancake into triangular shapes. Serve the jeon with the dipping sauce (recipe above) or with just plain soy sauce. Make sure to eat immediately (or store in the fridge) or else the pajeon will turn soggy. Happy eating!

Notes For Making Haemul Pajeon (Alternative Method)

Scallions — Instead of cooking the scallions in its stalk-shape, you can also cut them into bite sized pieces and mix them with the batter before cooking.

This will save you more time when cooking. This method will also make flipping the pancake much easier since the scallions will be encased in the batter. Finally, making the haemul pajeon this will result in a thinner jeon which has its own interesting texture and taste (much crispier and crunchy!).

In my opinion, cooking haemul pajeon with the scallion stalks taste a tad bit better since all the onion-goodness are still trapped inside. Also, haemul pajeon just looks so aesthetically pleasing when you serve it with the scallion stalks. It has a homely-feel to it, almost as if a Korean grandma made it (I know because my Korean grandma made it like this all the time!).

The choice is up to you. If you’re in a hurry and need to make some quick appetizer or side dishes, then cutting the scallions into smaller pieces makes more sense. If you have time and feel like experimenting, then definitely go the scallion stalk route.

Originally published at https://harueats.com on July 1, 2021.