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.
Maangchi's Amazon picks for this recipe
It's always best to buy Korean items at your local Korean grocery store, but I know that's not always possible so I chose these products on Amazon that are good quality. See more about how these items were chosen.