Ever since I blogged about a pancake I made with wild green onions I picked in Central Park, many people expressed interest in the recipe through my blog, email, and Facebook page.
So I decided to take another field trip to pick more wild green onions and mugwort to make video recipes with the ingredients. I still have one more video to post from Mexico, but I’ll post it later. In the spring these wild vegetables are soft and tender. Soon they will get tough, and anybody who wants to pick them wild shouldn’t do it too late in the season. My next video will be a soup and snack made with wild grown mugwort. Then the last video that I filmed in Mexico will be released.
You could use green onions from a grocery store for this recipe.
Ingredients (for 1 rectangular pancake about 6×7 inches)
Green onions, flour, water, soybean paste, sugar, and vegetable oil.
Directions
- Clean, wash, and drain a handful of wild green onions (or about 10 stalks of normal green onion).
- Cut them into 5 inch long pieces.
- Make batter by mixing ½ cup flour, ½ cup water, 1 ts soybean paste, and ½ ts sugar in a bowl. Mix well until the batter is smooth.
- Place a non-stick pan on the stove and heat it up.
- Add about 3 tbs vegetable oil to the heated pan.
- Put the green onion on the pan parallel to each other, in the shape of a rectangle.
- Pour the batter over the green onion evenly.
*tip: If you want some seafood (chopped squid, mussels or fresh oysters) in your pancake add it on top of the green onion before pouring the batter.
- While the pancake is being cooked, keep patting it, pressing it slightly, and keeping it in a nice shape with your spatula.
- A few minutes later, when the bottom of the pancake turns crispy and golden brown, turn it over.
- Cook a few more minutes until the bottom of the pancake turns crispy and golden brown again, and flip it or turn it over.
- Cook another minute and transfer it to a serving plate.
- Serve hot with sauce.
Sauce:
Mix these ingredients in a small bowl:
2 tbs soy sauce, 1 tbs vinegar, 1 ts sugar or honey, chopped onion, chopped green or red chili peppers, and 1 ts roasted sesame seeds.
Posted Wednesday, March 30th, 2011 at 9:58 pm.
Tagged: green onion pancake, 파전, 산달래, korean food, korean pancake, Korean recipes, Pajeon, sandallae jeon, scallion pancake, vegetarian dish, wild green onion, wild green onion pancake
Jun 23rd
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Apr 20th
These are just how I remember from Korea – thank you for this delicious recipe! They turned out so good, we didn’t even have time to take a picture! My boyfriend was skeptical, and said “those aren’t scallion pancakes…” But didn’t have much to say after he tried a bite ;-)
What type of vinegar do you use for the sauce? Is it rice vinegar or white vinegar or another type? Does it matter?
It doesn’t matter. Any kind of distilled vinegar will work well. I used to love apple vinegar but these days I prefer white vinegar. My taste seems to have changed over time. : )
I actually made two big seafood green onion pancakes. The ingredients are a bit different but it came out so good, very tasty!!! I also used unbleached all purpose flour, so the coloring may look off and I forgot to take a picture of the sauce, oh well, happy cooking!!!
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I made these green onion pancakes using the thicker, store-bought green onions. I sliced them into thinner strips so they would be easier to chew when I make them. I also used salt instead of soy bean paste but it was still very delicious! I had this pancake and the delicious sauce with kimchi soup for dinner. Thank you, Maangchi, and I will definitely make this again!
p.s. I love all of your recipes and have tried many!
Thank you for sharing your modifications of this recipe! Sounds great!
I absolutely love this recipe! It makes really crispy pancakes. I add abt 1/2tspn of baking soda to the flour mixture to make it more crispy. I don’t have doenjang at home so I used miso instead. Once I replaced it with soy sauce as my friend was vegetarian and it worked out really well. It’s definitely best eaten hot and crispy! When I have the chance, I shall try adding seafood to the pancake!
Hi Maangchi! I’ve been an avid fan of uours and been trying out most of your side dishes! Too bad I didn’t take photos of ’em so now, I managed to snap a pic before we finish all the green onion pancakes. I love your blogs and your Youtube channel. Our cuisine is much different from yours however, my sister and I prepare Korean food in an almost everyday basis. And your blog has been our guide. Bless you!
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Can i replace soybean paste with other ingredient??
You can skip soybean paste and add soy sauce or salt.
Due to food sensitivities and allergies, I am not sure what I can substitute for some ingredients in your recipes. I can’t have things made from soy and wheat. This also includes things like sou sauce but at least with soy sauce I can replace with coconut aminos. The flour in the recipe I can replace with an alternative floor like coconut, arrowroot, almond or rice but the soybean paste I’m not so sure of. Any suggestions? I think maybe a challenge for you could be to come up with alternatives for some ingredients so they are allergy free like instead of soy sauce use coconut aminos.
I didn’t have bean paste. Only used 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of water, flax seeds, and a bit of sugar. Came out perfect. You don’t have to follow the recipe to the exact T to get pajeon to be correct. Just make sure you use non-stick pan and oil when pan frying it. =)
Use rice flour, in place of your wheat flour, it is a true traditional Korean pancake ingredient plus it will make the outside of your pancake crispier. In place of soy sauce use Vietnamese fish sauce, both of these options are both authentic and should help you avoid your soy and wheat allergies.
I just tried making this tonight for my sister and I! I made a double batch of batter, just in case I messed up. Turns out that was a good decision on my part because the first one turned out awful and I had to scrap it. But the second one turned out FANTASTIC. The sauce was delicious, too. I didn’t get to take any pictures because we kind of ate it all in 2 seconds…
You learned so fast how to make crispy pancake! Smart!
Hi, Maangchi! I’m having trouble with steps 7 and 8. When I pour the batter the green onion/seafood scatter to the edges plus I have trouble flipping it. The pancake just kinda falls apart. What am I doing wrong and how can I fix it? Thanks!!
The batter must be too thin. How about adding a little more flour to the batter.
I have a question about the doenjang soybean paste, is it okay if I use the Japanese white soybean paste?
yes, you can use it in this recipe. Good luck!
HI I love all your recipes and my son loves green onion pancakes with leek kimchi we bought…my question is WHICH soybean paste? There are several I know of and only 2 that I have…the dark brown ( used in soups etc) and chili pepper paste or Gochugang ( which we always have) do you mean one of these or the light brown soybean paste ( cant remember name , but I don’t have any handy)..Thank you and I hope you will respond quickly! Love everything you make!
Hi Stacy,
Here is the soybean paste you need: https://www.maangchi.com/ingredient/doenjang
I love this!! It’s so yummy! I was never much of a fan of green onions, but man Koreans know how to use these! So good!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you maangchi!
Great great! Happy cooking! : )
Hi Maangchi! Thank you for posting these recipes with videos, and for making Korean cuisine something that everyone can try at home. I didn’t grow up learning to cook Korean food, so I usually go to Korean restaurants in my area. Learning to cook Korean, however, gives you more of an appreciation for the complexity of ingredients and balance of flavor characteristic of Korean cuisine. I love your website! Keep up the great work!
Awesome! Welcome to my website! Happy cooking!
Oh I love this recipe. This year, summer in Germany is soo rainy and cold, so I decided to make my own Makgeolli wich is just wonderful with Pajeon. Pajeon and Makgeolli on a rainy day. Just awesome :)
Thank you really much! :)
I love all of your vegetable pancake recipes! They are really great to make in the summer, when there are fresh vegetables everywhere. I forgot to add sugar into the batter but the onion tasted so sweet I didn’t even notice it. :) Your wild green onions are so cute!
I must be doing something wrong.. ;T__T Every time I make this, no matter how long on how low of a heat I cook it, the batter never cooks fully. Instead, it just absorbs a ton of oil and becomes gross …
” it just absorbs a ton of oil ..” I suspect your stove is not hot enough.
Can I check if any kinds of floor is possible?
Yes, use all purpose flour.
Hi Maangchi, thank you for the receipe. I have just successfully completed cooking my pajeon – one round with green onions and another round with puchu…and both taste just as good! My husband is coming home now, guess he will be my best food taster because he is a korean!
Maangchi,
If I dont have soybean paste, what can I use to replace it and where can I get it? Thanks!
You can skip soybean paste if it’s not available. Use soy sauce or salt.
hi maangchi! i recently found your website and i love it. i can’t have gluten and was wondering if rice flour would be a good substitute for all purpose flour for this recipe. thank you!
Maangchi, My daughter introduced me to your web site. I am so glad that she did. I will really enjoy it.
I would like to add to your recipe —- fine chopped up jalepeno ( if any one liked a little spicy food)
Hey, nice meeting you! Happy cooking!
Hi Maangchi, I really like to make this pancake I also add courgette and carrot :)
But I often find mine is not crispy what is ½ cup in grams measurement? Also why dont you add egg?
I made dahk bulgogi maybe you can do a recipe!
Hi Maangchi,
I just made this pancake and it was SOOO delicious.
Next time, I want to experiment with adding some rice flour to make it even more crunchy. Thank you!
Manchi, I made this recipe for my son’s 23rd birthday today and, OMG, soooooo delicious! I used normal spring onions but I hope to use the wild variety one day.
xxxxx
I made this with wild garlic from H-mart and saved some of the bulbs to plant them in my garden. I hope to have some growing for next time. The pancake was so crisp and good–better than from a mix!
Are those plants leaves flat or hollow? The reason I am asking is because there are two plants that are somewhat similar. One is wild onion and the other is wild garlic, and both are edible. http://www.ppws.vt.edu/scott/weed_id/allvi.htm
I had to show this to my girlfriend because she has wild garlic over running her garden.
hollow. That’s right!
Hi Maangchi, I don’t know if you know… anyway. Searching for wild ingredients is really great, but you must choose “clean” area.
Urban areas, the soil could be contaminated by lead and some plants absorve this heavy metal. If you eat them, you can guess what happen.
So, be careful. :)
maangchi, i am your fans from hong kong.
i love your recipe and really helpful. your cook is amazing good~
i tried your recipe of “Soondubu jjigae”, it is so delicious and i love it so much!~thank you~
can you teach “소갈비찜”? i tried it with my family in hongkong restaurant and its tastes very good. therefore, I really want to learn “소갈비찜”, can you share with us?
looking forward to your next video~^O^
Here u go! https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/galbijjim
hi, Maangchi ~^O^
thank you so much~
would you mind to tell me more about this
“http://static4.openrice.com.hk/UserPhoto/photo/0/3P/000QDTC4DD2D8E70224761m.jpg”
is it same with your recipe? i found this has more sweet sauce and some red jujube.
how to make it??sorry for causeing you such a great time for answering my question~
thank you so much!~~^O^
How great that you foraged in the park for ingredients. I am inspired and this looks delicious!!!
I hope you show us how mugwort looks in the wild when you post your soup recipe.
yes, I will!
It seems you had a lot of fun out there picking the green onion ,
nice idea
free ingredients! fun fun!
It looks really delicious! I will cook and try it!! :D
Thank you very much Maangchi.
Wow what a great video! Every time they get better and better. I refresh your site many times every day to see if there is a new video (now that I have watched all of them). I really hope I can find some wild green onions so I can make this – it looks so delicious and nothing is better than food cooked with free wild vegetables :)
You could use green onions sold at a grocery store, too. I know you love seafood! Add some oysters to the pancake. If you add some seafood to this recipe, it’s called “haemul pajeon” haemul means seafood in Korean.
I am definitely going to try that – it is oyster season so I can try it right away :)
Lovely I almost daily eat this side dish in rest. I love to eat koren food …..
One thing to remember when foraging in a city – if you don’t know, call the park and ask if they use pesticides and when/if they spray/administer them.
Can’t wait to make this pancake! I love jeon!
Kerri
What is this sauce called? My wife and I make a huge batch every week or two and put it on pancakes, noodles, rice and more.
These pancakes looks great, I cannot wait to try them . . if I can convince my wife to eat food grown in our yard :D
Maangchi , those look like chives .