Vegetable pancake

Yachaejeon 야채전

Let’s celebrate the spring of 2018 with yachaejeon, a Korean vegetable pancake!
I introduced this recipe to you in 2007 when I first started YouTube, but it wasn’t exactly yachaejeon because I used seafood. The video is here if you’re interested to see it. This time let’s make a real yachaejeon!

We’ll use a couple different kinds of vegetables and you can add your own, too. I didn’t use perilla leaves (kkaenip) or asian chives (buchu) this time, but they work well in yachaejeon.

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These pancakes remind me of my grandmother on my mother’s side, who passed away a long time ago. When I was young, during school vacation my mother used to send me and my siblings to her mother’s house in a small village in the countryside.

Whatever she made, it was so tasty! I remember she made vegetable pancakes all afternoon because she had to feed so many family members. While she was cooking the pancakes, we all waited and eagerly watched what she was doing. Once she brought it out, we ate it very fast!

Serves: 2
For a large 12 inch pancake

Ingredients

About 2½ to 3 cups 0f sliced vegetables

  • 4 green onions, cut into 1 inch long
  • ⅓ cup leek (optional), sliced thinly 1 inch long
  • 3 ounces zucchini matchsticks (about 1/2 cup)
  • 1 green chili pepper (or jalapeño), optional, sliced
  • 3 ounces onion, sliced
  • ⅓ cup sweet potato
  • 1 fresh mushroom (white, baby portobello, or shiitake)

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Also

  • ¾ cup all purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ¾ cup water
  • vegetable oil

Dipping sauce

Directions

Make dipping sauce:

  1. Combine soy sauce, vinegar, hot pepper flakes (if using), and sesame seeds in a bowl and mix it well with a spoon. Transfer it to a small bowl. Seat aside.

Make batter:

  1. Combine green onion, leek (if using), zucchini, green chili pepper (if using), onion, and sweet potato in a bowl. Add flour salt, and ¾ cup water. Mix it well with a wooden spoon.

Make a pancake:

  1. Heat up a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat. I use my 12 inch non-stick skillet to make one big pancake, but if your skillet is small, you can work in batches to make smaller ones.
  2. Add about 2 tablespoons vegetable oil and swirl it around to coat the skillet evenly. Add the batter to the skillet and spread it out evenly.
  3. Turn down the heat to medium and put the sliced mushroom on top. Gently press them in with a wooden spoon or spatula.
  4. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes until the bottom turns crunchy light golden brown. Grab the handle of the skillet and twirl it around so the pancake moves and is cooked evenly underneath.
  5. Turn or flip over the pancake.
  6. Increase the heat to medium high and add 1 to 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil along the edges of the pancake. Lift up one edge with your spatula and tilt the skillet so the oil flows underneath the pancake.
  7. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes until both sides turn light golden brown, occasionally pressing down with the spatula.
  8. Flip it over one more time and cook another 2 minutes.

Serve:

  1. Transfer it to a large plate and serve right away with the dipping sauce.

Posted on Thursday, August 9th, 2007 at 7:19 am. Last updated on November 22, 2020.
Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

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183 Comments:

  1. Hungry Hamster
    Posted September 6th, 2007 at 11:19 am |

    My jaw just dropped when I saw u flipping that pancake! You are amazing!

    Thanks for all the recipes! They are sooo useful!

    Hope u don’t mind me adding a link to ur site!

  2. Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 12,051 comments
    Posted August 21st, 2007 at 9:36 pm |

    lisa,
    Good good!!

  3. Anonymous
    Posted August 21st, 2007 at 7:15 pm |

    Maangchi,
    This has become a favorite! My husband and children love it!
    lisa in panama

  4. Samantha
    Posted August 20th, 2007 at 7:57 am |

    This looks so good!! I haven’t had good Korean food in a long time. I’m going to make this tomorrow. Thanks for all the recipes!

  5. Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 12,051 comments
    Posted August 13th, 2007 at 9:41 pm |

    hi,e-mom,

    I think the flip will be easier when you make smaller size of pancake.
    I can flip, so can you! : )

  6. E-mom
    Posted August 13th, 2007 at 8:38 am |

    This looks like the wonderful pancake I had at the Korean festival in downtown Toronto earlier this summer! Ì’m going to try using half the ingredients to make a smaller one ,,, do you think that would work? What an awesome flip! Too bad your video can`t teach me to do that too :)

  7. Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 12,051 comments
    Posted August 13th, 2007 at 6:36 am |

    no, I’m not a cook as my job. I just like cooking. : )
    Thanks!

  8. Anonymous
    Posted August 13th, 2007 at 12:32 am |

    THAT FLIP WAS AMAZING!!!

    Are you a cook by profession?

  9. Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 12,051 comments
    Posted August 12th, 2007 at 10:38 am |

    hi,Andreas,

    Sounds like you can make good “Okonomiyaki”!

  10. Andreas
    Posted August 10th, 2007 at 12:57 pm |

    Hats off! Great pan flip! :)
    Looks really good. If you put mayonaise, Tonkatsu sauce and fish flakes on the pancake, you’d have Okonomiyaki. But I love the Korean style with soy sauce as it fits better with other dishes.

  11. Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 12,051 comments
    Posted August 10th, 2007 at 7:05 am |

    Kitchen Ninja!
    LOL, yeah,I’ve heard from some youtube audience that I’m good at using knife. It’s good compliment. Why?
    We koreans say the most skillful cook in a family is supposed to use a knife and a cuttingboard. Others are just peeling garlic skin, arranging materials and cleaning around the kitchen.

  12. Anonymous
    Posted August 9th, 2007 at 10:44 pm |

    Wonderfull. I’ll have to try one or two of these reciepes while on vacation. It’ll be a stain on my honnor if I don’t! :) That flip is very risky. One wrong move and the whole thing is ruined! You’re like a kitchen ninja!

    Z

  13. Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 12,051 comments
    Posted August 9th, 2007 at 10:08 pm |

    Hi,Ginger,

    I won’t forget your request “korean sidedishes”. : )

    I’m interested in your spicy tofu soup now.

    M

  14. ginger
    Posted August 9th, 2007 at 9:59 pm |

    Have some spicy tofu soup boiling on the stove so I can type much but I just wanted to say … thanks Maangchi!

    I was just at a Korean market earlier this week and almost picked up a pack of pancake mix – good thing I didn’t! This looked so easy.

    That was a great flip with the pan!! =)

    BTW … we have everything for a Korean feast except some banchans *wink*

  15. Anonymous
    Posted August 9th, 2007 at 4:40 pm |

    This looks delicious…can’t wait to try it!

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