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.
hello! i love your recipes! do you have a bindaeduk recipe? (mung bean pancake?)
gaesong,
yes, maangchi is hammer in korean. : )I hope I can see you in my next meet up event.
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!
Maya,
It’s very interesting website. I bookmarked it, too.
Thank you very much!
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
Janet,
Thank you very much! Your comment is very encouraging!
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!
pho50,
Congratulation on your successful flip!
I hope everybody reads your tips for this pancake.
Very smart! : )
I just ate the 1st buchujeon I made and it turned out perfect!!! I even did the flip… haha I was so nervous.
I 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!
Catherine,
I 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! : )
안녕하세요 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~~^^
Thank 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!
My husband loved this!!
Chidori,
yes, you can use chopped kimchi to make kimchi pancake.
Would it be ok to put kimchi in it as well?