Korean recipes:
Vegetable pancake with Asian chives (buchujeon)
Some people were asking me questions recently about my vegetable pancake recipe.
They were having trouble because the middle of the pancake was too soft. I decided to try it again myself and have jeon for dinner.
Before starting making cooking videos, I never measured anything when I cooked. Also, I never failed! Koreans never measure anything with cups and tablespoons when they cook. But for my videos of course I need to explain how to make these dishes.
So I watched my own video and followed my steps. I found out that it was exactly right! I had a wonderful pancake for dinner. It was nice and crispy.
Even this time I didn’t use any seafood. I put an egg in the middle and it turned out really nice.
So my advice is that if you are having trouble with these recipes, please just follow the recipe as close as you can. Sooner or later it will turn out fine.
Here is the exact recipe, which I wrote down while cooking:
Ingredients:
½ cup of flour, 2/3 cup of water, 1ts salt, 1 egg, vegetables: green onions, chives, zucchini, chili pepper), 2/3 cup of chopped scallop and shrimp, vegetable oil
- In a big bowl, place ½ cup of flour, 1 ts salt, 2/3 cup of water and mix it.
- Chop ½ cup green onions and 3 cup of Asian chives, and shred zucchini to make 1/ 2 cup. Total cups of vegetables will be 4 cups
- Put chopped vegetables into the mixture of flour and mix it up.
- Chop 2/3 cup of shrimp, scallop, or squid (optional)
- In a big heated pan, put some oil and spread the vegetable pancake batter thinly and lower the heat down to medium.
- Place the chopped seafood over the top and press it with a spoon or spatula.
- When the pancake is cooked about 80 %, beat one egg and spread it in the center of the pancake and turn it over using spatula or flip it
- Add more oil if needed, and serve it hot with dipping sauce by mixing 1 tbs of soy sauce and ½ tbs of vinegar.
*Tip: To make it crispier, add oil more generously and spread the pancake mixture thinly. If your pan is not big enough, I suggest making 2 pancakes.















This is an Awesome recipe
March 21st, 2008 at 10:42 amMy friend led me to your website it is fantastic
Thank you anonymous!
March 21st, 2008 at 1:14 pmIt’s very easy to make.
If you make it, let me know how it goes later.
Maangchi, what vinegar did you used for the dipping sauce? I used the cheap white vinegar and the sauce I made tasted very different from those yummy ones from the korean restaurant. Can you take photos of the one you used please. Thanks.
ruth
April 7th, 2008 at 11:34 pmI use “apple vinegar”(sa gwa sik cho). Ok, I will post the picture of the vinegar in my ingredient blog soon.
April 8th, 2008 at 2:37 amThanks, I saw the photo you put up already.
ruth
April 8th, 2008 at 9:23 pmThis is a nice, easy-to-make recipe. The egg at the end is essential and really makes the recipe. I used buchu, and deleted the squash. In one of my baches, I also added artificial crab and a little baby shrimp. Thanks Maangchi. I love your website.
April 25th, 2008 at 8:25 pmHi,
April 25th, 2008 at 8:45 pmYour “jeon” sounds like colorful and delicious. Than you for letting me know about your successful cooking.
Chives pancake
May 11th, 2008 at 11:13 pmNo egg version
http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/jw!fRcxarKTFxY5k6QGsJ605Q–/article?mid=273
Aga suka,
May 12th, 2008 at 9:32 pmYou made amazingly delicious looking pancake without egg!
I would like to taste it. : )
I’m korean, but i dont know how to make very much korean food :(
Thank you for starting your website! Now i can start cooking what i never learned from my mom.
And my american husband will love it!
Thanks unni!
July 23rd, 2008 at 4:46 pmcandice,
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:46 pmI would like to encourage you to cook a lot. Cooking is fun! : )
Thank you!
Maangchi,
I’ve tried your “jeon” recipe and it was wonderful. It reminded me of my stay in Korea. Als your recipies on chabchae and bibimbab worked out wonderful. I’ve ordered some more ingredients throught the internet to prepare Kimchi. Thanks to share your delicious knowledge.
August 14th, 2008 at 7:36 amKurt - Belgium
Kurt Van Vlaenderen
August 14th, 2008 at 9:10 amCongratulation!
You have already made jobchae (stir fry noodles with vegetable) and bibimbap! These 3 dishes take some time to cook, but you made it! You must be good at cooking.
I am sure your kimchi will turn out well too.
I just made this! It is so yummy! I don’t think i layered it thinly enough in the pan, so its not that crispy. Still good. Thank you!
August 15th, 2008 at 3:16 pmResa
August 15th, 2008 at 6:44 pmThanks for letting me know about your pancake making,
Practice makes perfect! : )
Would it be ok to put kimchi in it as well?
September 15th, 2008 at 2:04 pmChidori,
September 15th, 2008 at 5:59 pmyes, you can use chopped kimchi to make kimchi pancake.
My husband loved this!!
September 23rd, 2008 at 8:07 pmThank you so much for your recipes! My husband and I met in Korea and just adored the food, which is hard to find where we live. I was at the point where I would have killed someone for good cucumber kimchi when I found your site! Thank you, thank you. I need to go grocery shopping tomorrow. Also, I have never seen a recipe for the chive pancakes that looked like it would work, so I’m excited to try yours tomorrow!
September 27th, 2008 at 7:34 pm안녕하세요 망씨~~~ I try your reciepe for 해물파전 but I when I put ½ cup of flour, 2/3 cup of water, it seems to be not enough flour and too much water… I don’t know maybe I’m wrong because I have other mesure in switzerland and I’m not used to cups… but when you said 2/3cup of water is it 2 time 1/3cup?!? it’s the only cup I have here and just ½ cup of flour or 1 and a half cup?!? I will try again tonight anyway it turn out good but not like the I ate in summer when I was in korea…
감사합니다 언니~~^^
September 29th, 2008 at 6:45 amCatherine,
September 29th, 2008 at 7:54 amI use the mixture of flour and water to help ingredients stick together. If the mixture is thick, I won’t be able to put that amount of ingredients. Anyway, if it’s too watery for you, modify the recipe according to your taste. You can use less water and less ingredients.
Practice makes perfect! : )
I just ate the 1st buchujeon I made and it turned out perfect!!! I even did the flip… haha I was so nervous.
October 26th, 2008 at 12:10 pmI didn’t have the Asian chives so I used 3 cups of green onions and 1/2 cup of regular chives (plus the zucchini and chili pepper) and it was sooooo delicious.
Your tips on spreading them thin, smashing them with the spatula and making more than one for a smaller pan helped alot. (I made 3 pancakes from the recipe.) The batter is thinner than what alot of people are used to for a “pancake” batter. The consistency was more like a crepe batter so it makes a thinner, more delicate, & less “bready” pancake. Yummy!!! Thanks for teaching me!
pho50,
October 26th, 2008 at 12:25 pmCongratulation on your successful flip!
I hope everybody reads your tips for this pancake.
Very smart! : )
I make this recipe all the time ever since I saw you on youtube. It’s simply wonderful. Thanks for helping me expand my everyday recipe book. You are so adorable to watch - such a delightful, fresh personality!
November 11th, 2008 at 1:05 pmJanet,
November 11th, 2008 at 8:34 pmThank you very much! Your comment is very encouraging!
Hi Maangchi,
I recommended your website to my dad and he made this recipe! Also, I sent a link to your website to a radio show I like about food. Check it out, it’s pretty interesting.
http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/gf
November 17th, 2008 at 2:15 pmMaya,
November 17th, 2008 at 9:33 pmIt’s very interesting website. I bookmarked it, too.
Thank you very much!
maangchi? isnt that korean for hammer? I asked my mom how to make korean food and she’s not very specific (like you said, koreans dont measure anything). I’m getting the hang of not measuring but I rather make food I’ll eat! thanks alot. I live in New york City too!
November 27th, 2008 at 11:20 pmgaesong,
November 28th, 2008 at 10:29 amyes, maangchi is hammer in korean. : )I hope I can see you in my next meet up event.
hello! i love your recipes! do you have a bindaeduk recipe? (mung bean pancake?)
December 2nd, 2008 at 9:36 amAllison,
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:01 amsure, bindaedduk is one of upcoming recipes requested by others, too. Thank you.
hi 망치,im trying this instant mix.. for pancake cj.co.kr brand? can u advise me how much water to mix ratio to use? or if i should add anything else? im also going to try this recipe. how to make it
December 4th, 2008 at 9:16 am해몰파전?
마리,
I have never used the flour mix, but I think 2 cups of flour mix and 1.5 cup of water will be ok. Anyway leave your question on the forum http://www.maangchi.com/talk/forum/general-discussion You may get better answer from others.
Are you interested in making seafood green onion pancake? Someday I am going to post the recipe.
Check my another vegetable pancake here
December 4th, 2008 at 11:24 pmhttp://www.maangchi.com/recipes/ya-chae-jeon
hi mangchi it lok like ah hammer “mangchi” right,, by the way because of your many upload dishes, its great to know how to cook korean food, actualy right now im working here in korea, when i use to eat on our canteen i was wondering how to cook this vegetable pancake,, and so suddenly i saw it on your site and wath it woww your the great chef…. anyonggggggg
December 5th, 2008 at 11:18 pm망치, thank you for the suggestion :) i will try that. and also the other recipe. yes, id be interested in seafood green onion pancake im looking forward to ur posting in the future :D
December 5th, 2008 at 11:31 pmHi Maanchi! I’m so happy I found your site. Today, I made Jeon. I used what I had in my house, so that meant no chives, but green onion and spinach and squid and crab stick - oh! and spelt flour. I have bad news though. Since I don’t have a non-stick pan, I chose a stainless steel frying pan rather than my trusted cast iron skillet, and ended up with mush, which I then transferred to the cast iron pan and fried again to make a crispy pancake. In the end, it was very tasty…. I hope my posting will help other people not make the same mistake I did.
Once a month my friends and I get together to make a whole bunch of food we can freeze and eat throughout the following month, and I’m thinking mini jeon! Do you think they would freeze well?
December 8th, 2008 at 10:25 pmRhonda,
December 8th, 2008 at 11:26 pmThank you for sharing your experience about cooking jeon. : )
Yes, you can freeze it!
Maangchi씨, you mentioned pepper in the video at around 1:18, what kind of pepper is that and where can I get it?
December 11th, 2008 at 2:56 amDo I use any special kind of flour?
December 11th, 2008 at 4:22 am정함,
check my ingredient blog here,
http://www.maangchi.com/ingredients/chili-peppers
I said flour which means usual all purpose flour.
December 11th, 2008 at 3:19 pm네 알겠어요! 망치씨, 가르쳐 주셔서 감사합니다. 저녁을 맛있게 부추전을 요리할래요!
Please correct me if my Korean is not up to standard. I started learning Korean 2 years ago but it is still not up to standard. It was only recently after watching your videos that I took an interest in Korean cooking.
December 11th, 2008 at 7:18 pmThis recipe is great! I have a question on the sauce in which you eat this with..how do I make it? Thanks
December 14th, 2008 at 6:21 pmmaangchi, cooking this buchujeon was a complete failure. I think I added too much water but I was sure I did follow your instruction of 1/2 cup of flour and 2/3 of water….haiz…
December 15th, 2008 at 2:05 am정함,
oh, I wish I could help you cook perfect buchu jeon!
Don’t give up. Practice makes perfect. You already seem to know what you are supposed to do next time you make it. : )
Lexi,
December 15th, 2008 at 9:54 amMix 2 tbs soy sauce and 1 tbs vinegar! Thanks,