Korean seafood pancake (hae mool pa jeon)

This traditional Korean recipe for savoury seafood pancake originates from the city of Busan in South Korea. This is Asian cuisine at its simplest and tastiest – you'll come back to the soy dipping sauce again and again.

file:site_21_rand_993924760_korean.jpg

• serves

  3–4

• prep

  25 minutes

• cook

  10 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

250 g all-purpose flour

200 g cornstarch

½ tbsp salt

3 eggs

320 ml cold water

200 g shallots, sliced

200 g garlic chives

200 g Korean zucchini

30 g onion, sliced

20 g red chilli pepper

200 g medium prawns, shelled, deveined, halved lengthwise

200 g cleaned squid, bodies cut into 1cm rings, large tentacles halved

150 ml vegetable oil

Soy dipping sauce

½ cup soy sauce

2 tbsp rice vinegar

1½ tsp Asian sesame oil

Instructions

To make the soy dipping sauce, combine soy sauce, rice vinegar and sesame oil in a small bowl. Set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cornstarch and salt. Whisk the egg with the water, and then add the egg mixture to the flour mixture.

Add the shallots, garlic chive, zucchini, onion, red chilli, prawn and squid.

In a non-stick pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil until hot.

Spread the mixture, thinly covering the whole pan and cook over high heat for about 3 minutes or until the bottom is crisp and browned. Carefully flip the pancake and cook other side for about 1 minute or until set.

Cut into slices and serve the pancake with soy dipping sauce.

This dish is normally eaten with Korea's traditional rice-based wine.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.