Chive pancake

Buchujeon 부추전

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

Directions

  1. Combine the flour, ¾ cup water, and fish sauce in a medium sized bowl and mix well. Stir in the chives and onion.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
    부추전
  4. Shake the skillet to check its crispness. You should be able to hear the crispy pancake swish around in the nonstick pan.
  5. 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. buchujeon
  6.  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.
  7. 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. buchujeon (부추전)

Leave your rating:

So far this is rated 5/5 from 450 votes

Be the first to rate this.

92 Comments:

  1. Bremen Melbourne joined 10/17 & has 1 comment

    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?

  2. vvcosta United States joined 6/16 & has 6 comments

    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!


    See full size image

  3. sanne Munich joined 8/14 & has 279 comments

    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.

  4. lovely korea iraq-kurdistan joined 8/12 & has 2 comments

    thank you verey much i love it ,
    your way to describe the recieps is so easy and understanable thank you

  5. jierui Detroit joined 8/10 & has 7 comments

    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!

  6. Ai loves food Sydney, Australia joined 9/11 & has 3 comments

    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.

  7. Mai Nguyen Viet Nam joined 4/11 & has 1 comment

    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.

  8. lindz joined 2/11 & has 1 comment

    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!

  9. 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!

  10. KKVL Belfast, joined 4/10 & has 15 comments

    would it affect the dipping sauce if i use balsmic vinegar?

  11. jsung joined 3/10 & has 1 comment

    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.

  12. 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?

  13. 이렇게 간단히 설명 해줘서 너무 고맙습니다~!
    이제 부집가루 안사도 돼겠네요 망치 언니 덕분에 ^^
    한국말로 돼있는 비디오 있으세요?

    망치 언니 파이팅~!

  14. 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!

More comments to read! Jump to page: 1 3 4 5

Leave a Reply

You must create a profile and be logged in to post a comment.