Haemul Pajeon – Korean Seafood & Spring Onions Pancake

Haemul Pajeon (해물파전) is a famous Korean pancake made from seafood and spring onions. Haemul means seafood, pa means spring onions and jeon is pancake. There are other variety of jeon using various meat, seafood and vegetables but haemul pajeon and kimchi jeon are the two popular ones.

Ever since I had my first taste of haemul pajeon, I knew I gotta make it myself one day. I’ve cooked haemul pajeon twice so far. Make my own batter for the first trial and used a Korean pancake mix for my second haemul pajeon. They tasted quite similar.

Lip smacking haemul pajeon! Tsk even the fly like my food. Hahaha

Let’s cook!

To make pancake batter,

Add water to flour.

Next add an egg.

Mix until you get a smooth batter. This batter was too thick initially. The recipe from Flavours magazine suggested 100ml water. Hence I add another 250ml of water making it 350ml in total. If you find it still thick, feel free to add more water.

If you have pancake mix, you just need to add water.

This is the pancake mix I used from CJ Beksul for my second haemul pajeon.

Next add garlic, shrimp, crab sticks, squid and spring onions.

Ohh and mussel too! Mix the batter well.

Heat some oil in the frying pan and use a soup ladle to pour the batter on the pan. Cook both side until lightly browned.

Cut the pancake into wedges and serve with sauce (recipe at the bottom). You can eat it warm or when it has cool down to room temperature. I love the latter.

Great as appetizer, side dish and snack. I love to eat it as snack.
You can do with or without the sauce. You’ll feel a kick with the dipping sauce. 🙂

Haemul Pajeon
Adapted from Flavours magazine (March-April 2009)
Makes 8-12 pieces depending on size

pancake
180g flour
350ml water
1 egg
or alternatively use Korean pancake mix.

2 mussels, chopped
1 squid, chopped
3 crab sticks,
50g shrimps, shelled and chopped
1 teaspoon minced garlic
30g spring onions, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

sauce
125ml light soy sauce
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
1 red chili, finely chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped carrot
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1 stalk spring onion, chopped
water to taste or 1/2 can 7-UP

Method:
To make pancakes:
1. In a large bowl, add flour, water and egg and mix to form a smooth batter.
(feel free to add a more flour or water to get the consistency of a thin pancake batter)
2. Add garlic, mussel, squid, crab sticks, shrimp and half quantity of spring onions.
3. Add salt and pepper and stir to combine.
4. Heat a pan over medium heat and add some oil to coat the pan.
5. Spoon batter into the pan.
6. Add some spring onion on the pancake and cook for about 3-4 minutes.
7. Flip the pancake to cook the other side.
8. Once cooked, place it on paper towel to soak excess oil.
9. Repeat with remaining batter. You can keep batter in the fridge for next day.

To make sauce:
1. Mix all ingredients and serve in a small bowl.

Enjoy!