Seafood Pancake (Haemul Pajeon)

  

This dish is originally a Korean appetizer called Haemul Pajeon. With basic ingredients of eggs, flour, green onions, assorted seafood and vegetables of your choice are added. You can make it as simple or as extravagant  as you like and it will always be delicious. So versatile, you can serve it as a side dish, for breakfast, snack or 'baon' (food-on-the-go). 

Basic Recipe (makes 2 small pancakes)

 Batter:

   3/4 cup flour

   3 eggs

   3/4 cup cold water

   dashi powder * diluted in a little warm water

  chopped green onions (2 in length) and/or scallions, sliced

  1 tsp sesame oil

  1/2 tsp salt 

  white pepper

Seafood (1/2 cup of any or a combination of the following) :

   boiled octopus, thinly sliced

   boiled squid, thinly sliced

   oysters

   clams

   squid balls, sliced

   crab meat

   imitation crab

Other vegetables I would add :

   grated carrots

   sliced cabbage

   bean sprouts

   fresh mushrooms

   fresh spinach leaves

Dashi powder is soup stock. I know it is japanese but it makes the pancake taste very asian. You can substitute this with 1/4 Knorr shrimp cube or leave it out completely. The dashi in the pictures are available in most popular supermarkets in Metro Manila.

The sauce I mixed is the best. Salty, sour, sweet, all-in-one!

Dipping Sauce :

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar or diluted white vinegar

chopped green onion

chili powder or pepper flakes

1 tsp sugar or to taste

a little minced garlic

few drops of sesame oil

Procedure : ( sorry pictures for the procedure not yet ready. will post soon!)

Prepare the sauce first. Mix all ingredients together. Start with the basic recipe and just add more of what you like to suit your taste. Refrigerate sauce while you prepare the pancake so ingredients will blend together.

Prepare batter by mixing all ingredients together. Do not over mix. 

Lightly oil a small non-stick skillet. Turn on heat at medium flame. Pour half of the batter in. (or you can just make one pancake using a bigger pan). Sprinkle half of the seafood over the batter, Next sprinkle 1/2 of the vegetables. Lightly pat the vegetables into the batter. Loose veggies will fall off when you turn it.

Let cook for a few minutes the check the doneness by peeking under. I like the pancake lightly browned. 

Turn over the pancake.

I have a technique that makes turning less messy. Slide your pancake on a plate. Holding the plate underneath with your left hand, get you pan and put it downside over the plate. With your left land, turn plate/pan over. Remove the plate and return the pan on the stove. Tada!

Cook again for a few more minutes. Then turn the pancake again.

Serve pancake with seafood/veggies side up.

This version contains squid balls, squid, imitation crab, carrots, cabbage and bean sprouts. A quick version of what I had in the fridge.

This version contains boiled octopus and squid, fresh mushroom and fresh spinach. Actually this version, I served oyster sauce on the side.