Seafood pancakes

Haemuljeon 해물전

Today I’m introducing you to my family’s all time favorite dish, haemuljeon, a Korean pancake made with a few different kinds of seafood.

Growing up in a harbor city on the southern coast of South Korea, every meal table was abundant with seafood. The traditional open air market was very close to my house so my mom went there every morning and bought all the fresh ingredients that she needed for that day. I used to go with her every morning, holding her hand. I don’t ever remember refusing her offer: “Do you want to come with me when I go shopping?” It was always so early in the morning! How early? 5 or 6 am! The market was usually full of people, even so early in the morning. People came to sell their catch, and some people were coming to buy fresh ingredients like us. And then other people were selling food there, like porridge, noodle soup, and rice cakes.

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Haemuljeon was one of my father’s favorite dishes. My mom brought fresh seafood home, chopped it up, and mixed it with green onion or buchu (chives) in a batter and cooked it on a skillet. Since it all happened so early in the morning, I had tons of time left before going to school! These are all such good memories.

This dish is easy to make, and all you need are a few different kinds of your favorite seafood. Fresh oysters, mussels, or scallops will work well, but the recipe below is my family’s favorite. With these ingredients you can make it just like we like to.

Ingredients (Make 10-11 pancakes)

  • 4 ounces deveined and cleaned shrimp, chopped
  • 4 ounces clam meat, chopped
  • 8 ounces cleaned squid, chopped
  • 1 green chili pepper, chopped
  • 2 to 3 green onions, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon of chopped carrot
  • ½ cup flour
  • ½ cup potato starch (or flour)
  • 1 egg
  • ½ cup water
  • 1 tablespoon fish sauce
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
  • 4 to 6 tablespoons vegetable oilKorean seafood pancakes

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Directions

  1. Put the shrimp, clam, and squid into a bowl. Add green chili pepper, green onion, carrot, flour, potato starch, egg, water, fish sauce, kosher salt, black pepper, and toasted sesame oil. Mix it all together with a spoon.Korean seafood pancakes
  2. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add about 2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable oil and swirl it around to coat evenly.
  3. Take 1 or 2 spoonfuls of the mixture and place it on the skillet. Shape it to round, ½ inch thick about 3 inch wide disks with the spoon. Make a few more disks until your skillet is comfortably full of them.seafood pancakes (haemuljeon: 해물전)
  4. About 2 minutes later, when the bottom of the pancakes turn a little crunchy, gently flip them over.seafood pancakes (haemuljeon: 해물전)
  5. Cook another 2 minutes, and then flip them over again. Cook another 1 to 2 minutes until both sides are light golden brown and crunchy.seafood pancakes (haemuljeon: 해물전)
  6. Transfer the cooked pancakes to a plate.
  7. Clean the skillet with paper towels, add 2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable oil and make pancakes with the rest of the batter mixture.seafood pancakes (haemuljeon: 해물전)
  8. Serve with rice, as a snack, or as a side dish for beer or soju.seafood pancakes (haemuljeon: 해물전)

Posted on Saturday, April 6th, 2019 at 5:17 pm. Last updated on August 11, 2021.
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22 Comments:

  1. dneedle Bucks County, PA joined 7/21 & has 2 comments
    Posted July 6th, 2021 at 6:24 pm | or create a profile.

    These were delicious and easy to make! I had frozen scallops that I needed to use, so I substituted these for the other seafood in the recipe. I also added fresh chives and corn. My grocery store did not have green chili peppers, so I used half an Anaheim pepper.

    Thank you for the recipe, Maangchi! :)


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  2. Nate Canada joined 5/20 & has 1 comment
    Posted May 4th, 2020 at 5:48 pm | or create a profile.

    Hi Maangchi, could you tell me the difference between haemulpajeon and haemuljeon? Or is there no difference because both contain pa?

  3. Blessed Singapore joined 4/10 & has 18 comments
    Posted February 13th, 2020 at 5:14 am | or create a profile.

    Hi Maangchi, just by looking at the video makes me drool. I have a concern here.
    I have low tolerance towards plain flour. May I know what kind of flour should I substitute it?

  4. FrankieT Phoenix, AZ joined 1/20 & has 1 comment
    Posted January 15th, 2020 at 3:25 pm | or create a profile.

    Maangchi, we LOVE your shows, and your recipes. My wife’s fave of all time is haemul pajeon, your way.
    We have it in our best Korean restaurant many times, but we both agree OURS IS BETTER!!!!

  5. Janny The Netherlands joined 7/19 & has 1 comment
    Posted July 16th, 2019 at 4:26 am | or create a profile.

    They are delicious. Can you prepare the pancakes in advance? Then, do you reheat them or are they eaten cold as well?

  6. Nora Nero East Java, Indonesia joined 2/19 & has 13 comments
    Posted May 22nd, 2019 at 2:32 am | or create a profile.

    Made it with mushrooms last night since my mom can’t eat fishy smell seafood. And I turn the shape into large-just-like-kimchijeon-one. You’re totally right Maangchi-ssi. The sizzling sound really reminds me to the rhythm of the rain


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  7. Dazzler Oak Flats Australia joined 5/19 & has 2 comments
    Posted May 11th, 2019 at 8:46 pm | or create a profile.

    I’m making this for my wife for Mothers Day dinner tonight. I’ll be using scallops and prawns in my mix. It looks delicious, thanks Maangchi.

  8. miguk girl Dover-Foxcroft, ME joined 3/11 & has 3 comments
    Posted May 4th, 2019 at 11:55 am | or create a profile.

    Maangchi–Can we use rice flour instead of wheat flour, or combination of both? I love the starchy chewy texture from rice flour! I love this recipe–so easy and fun to make! But maybe I will increase the portions because I think some “sampling” might occur during the cooking process! ;D

  9. stefansky99 Los Angeles, CA joined 1/14 & has 3 comments
    Posted May 1st, 2019 at 11:46 pm | or create a profile.

    I made this recipe using only two seafood ingredients: shrimp and oysters. I did not use potato starch, instead I used Korean pancake mix. Everyone in my family was very pleased with this lovely appetizer / banchan. I will experiment with other seafood combinations.

    Easy and delicious dish. Many thanks.

  10. ucadjuster Missouri, USA joined 5/19 & has 1 comment
    Posted May 1st, 2019 at 3:27 pm | or create a profile.

    Those are beautiful! Are they served with side dishes? Ten of those would only feed me.

  11. DAT811 SG joined 4/19 & has 1 comment
    Posted April 17th, 2019 at 2:46 am | or create a profile.

    Yums! I am having some friends on Friday for lunch (it’s a public holiday here in SG) & I will be cooking this dish to serve them together with your tofu stew; Korean fried chicken!!!

    Thank you for sharing your delicious recipe Maangchi!
    Love you

  12. bimbo.wildwest Tucson, AZ joined 4/19 & has 3 comments
    Posted April 9th, 2019 at 4:53 pm | or create a profile.

    These are SO scrumptious! My tastes tend to the, “Weird,” as my family would say, but I LOVE Asian food. Two modifications I made to this recipe – I finished off in my convection oven because I was not sure all the seafood was cooked thoroughly AND, instead of putting oil in the (cast-iron) skillet, I sprayed with olive oil. MUCH lighter on the oil – too much oil is intimidating to me – and the outside crunch crunchier. Also was able to cook longer on the stove top rather than transfer to the convection oven to ensure fish cookery. A MOST delicious recipe – will be using a LOT as I LOVE everything seafood, even Seviche. Looking for a good gravy/sauce to include – I served first batch over stir-fried mung bean sprouts, daikon and carrot shreds with Kimchi. My family thinks I’m nuts…

  13. stonefly Olympia WA joined 11/11 & has 61 comments
    Posted April 6th, 2019 at 11:37 pm | or create a profile.

    What a wonderful dish! My wife does not like these, so when I make them it is all for me. Yay!!!!!!!!!! I like to make a dipping sauce, too.

    • bimbo.wildwest Tucson, AZ joined 4/19 & has 3 comments
      Posted April 9th, 2019 at 10:10 pm | or create a profile.

      What type of dipping sauce? Was looking for one on Maangchi’s site but didn’t find anything that sounded like it went well with. I served the pancakes with stir-fried vegetables and rice and, of course, Kimchi. The meal was out of this world! But a sauce was needed. Not a fan of just dashing on high-sodium thin sauces like fish sauce and soy sauce. Looking for something with a little more texture and less salt. Thank you.

      • Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 12,049 comments
        Posted April 23rd, 2019 at 8:45 am | or create a profile.

        Hi, this seafood pancake doesn’t need a dipping sauce because it’s already salty enough. But if you still want some dipping sauce, check out the dipping sauce recipe for a vegetable pancake. https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/yachaejeon
        Good luck with making delicious haemuljeon!

      • stonefly Olympia WA joined 11/11 & has 61 comments
        Posted May 1st, 2019 at 6:11 pm | or create a profile.

        Here are a couple I use:

        1. Rice wine vinegar, sweetened with sugar or splenda, is the main base; add a little sambal olek or chili garlic sauce, some chopped garlic and chopped ginger. Combine and mix.

        2. Rice wine vinegar and Thai sweet chili sauce. I tend to keep this on the thin side, again with chopped garlic and ginger and often chopped Thai hot peppers.

        Enjoy!

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