Whenever I go to a Korean grocery store, if I find a bunch of good quality chives, I always pick them up. What makes good quality chives? They should be dark green, fresh and not dried out, and without bruises! I have many recipes on my website that use chives: in mandu (dumplings), kimchi, and even hotteok!
But the simplest way to enjoy chives is to make a Korean-style savory pancake like I’m showing you in this recipe. You can serve a hot, crunchy, and gorgeous-looking pancake so quickly. It tastes a little salty with chive aroma, so it goes well with rice. This was one of my most frequent side dishes that I used to prepare for my children’s lunchbox, and they still talk about how good it was! If you want to pack it in a lunchbox, cut it into bite size pieces, usually rectangular, before putting it in.
If you want to make both sides of this pancake crunchy, cook it over high or medium high heat and use a generous amount of cooking oil. And be sure to cook it in a non-stick skillet so that the pancake won’t stick to the pan.
Ingredients
Serves 2
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons fish sauce or 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 4 ounces Asian chives (buchu in Korean), chopped (about 1½ cups)
- ¼ cup onion, chopped
- 2 to 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
Directions
- Combine the flour, ¾ cup water, and fish sauce in a medium sized bowl and mix well. Stir in the chives and onion.
- Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 or 2 tablespoons of the oil to the hot skillet and swirl it around to coat.
- Scrape all the chive batter into a mound in the center of the skillet and spread it evenly so that it forms a thin, round pancake, about 11 to 12 inches in diameter. Cook until lightly browned and crisp on the bottom, 3 to 5 minutes. If your skillet is small, divide the batter in half and cook 2 pancakes one at a time.
- Shake the skillet to check its crispness. You should be able to hear the crispy pancake swish around in the nonstick pan.
- Turn the pancake over with a spatula and drizzle the remaining 1 or 2 tablespoons of oil around the edge of the skillet so that it runs under the pancake.
- Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, pressing the pancake down occasionally with the spatula until the other side is crisp. Turn the pancake again and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes, until it’s crisp on both sides.
- Turn it over one more time and then slide it onto a plate. Serve right away. Or, to serve in a lunchbox, cool for 5 minutes and cut into bite-size pieces.
Hi Maangchi, I’m new to cooking so I’m not sure if I’m doing anything wrong but when I flip my pancake over thes shrimp and scallops would get charred before the pancake gets fully cooked. I was afraid it’ll get burnt before the pancake gets cooked what should I do?
Just lower the heat a little while cooking the pancake.
I could never figure out what to do with all the wild chives that grew around our yard but this was delicious!!! I’ll try it with seafood next time!
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Hi Maangchi,
have you ever tried kkaennip (cut into very fine strips) in your pajeon? That’s delicious, too! Just roll the leaves up tightly to cut them.
This way, I used up some left-over kkaennip once – I hadn’t the time to prepare jangajji then and just tossed the leaves in the freezer for soup (maeuntang).
Some time later, we had Korean guests (friends from Busan), and no buchu or chives for haemul-pajeon – but we needed some anju … ;o)
Bye, Sanne.
“have you ever tried kkaennip (cut into very fine strips) in your pajeon?” of course! : )
thank you verey much i love it ,
your way to describe the recieps is so easy and understanable thank you
Thank you! Happy cooking!
Are these sometimes made with rice flour? The Korean grocery near my work makes these with a flour that has a consistency very much like tteokbukki: kinda chewy, a little translucent, definitely not wheat flour. I like them, except they use too much oil and I was going to try to make some at home. Thanks!
Also, I love to add dandelion greens chopped up to your recipe. They are very good in combo with the buchu. And I usually use half white flour, half wheat flour. I don’t eat meat, so I eat more whole grain stuff, and the bonus is that I think wheat flour makes them brown better. Both changes work very well with your wonderful versatile recipe!
I’ve seen recipes to use some rice flour with regular white flour. The rice flour gives a nice crispy chewy texture.
Thank you for your recipes!! I come to your site often when I need some new inspiration!!!
I just made your Kim chi and chives pancake!! Love your work.
Hello, Thanks for the recipe.
It’s very useful. I’m interested in Korean Food and trying to cook more dishes. This is what I’m looking for.
Hiii Maangchi! thanks for your lovely tutorial and website! Im always a fan of korean food. this is my 1st time to try to cook korean pancake but i couldnt flip it :( , is that because it too thick? but the taste still pretty good . Thankss!
dear maangchi — i love your site. quick question: is it better to add the seafood later rather than mixing it into the batter? why? thanks!
would it affect the dipping sauce if i use balsmic vinegar?
blasamic vinegar sounds good to me!
alright! thanks loads for the quick reply..i shall make it for lunch tomorrow then =)
Maangchi,
I tried many times making korean pancake but I can never get it to be crispy as the one in restaurant. What do I need to do, is it less water or more water or oil or…to make it more crispy? Thank you.
add oil more generously and use your spatula to lift the edge of your pancake so that vegetable oil can reach the center. Press the pancake slightly with your spatula. hope it works!
Just want to share, if you want to make it crispier you can add a tea spoon of baking soda on the ingredients..
Happy cooking !
After cooking the vegetable pancake, I prefer to grill it briefly. It helps to excrete some of the oil. Makes it crispier and more fragrant too.
Hello thanks for the recipe. I am wondering how to make the dipping sauce? Is it just soy suace and vinegar? What kind of soy sauce and vinegar?
yes, that’s my dipping sauce for this pancake.
Mix 1 tbs of soy sauce and ½ tbs of vinegar.
If you want, add some hot pepper flakes, minced garlic, roasted sesame seeds, and chopped green onions.
이렇게 간단히 설명 해줘서 너무 고맙습니다~!
이제 부집가루 안사도 돼겠네요 망치 언니 덕분에 ^^
한국말로 돼있는 비디오 있으세요?
망치 언니 파이팅~!
Thank you very much! I never like the taste of buchim garu (pancake mix sold at a Korean grocery store). No korean service yet, but I wish I had time to make Korean version video recipe. T
I guess it’s common for asian housewives not to measure anything. It’s a acquired skill learned from their mother and mother-in-law!
Haha!