[Simple Home Cooking] Crispy seafood scallion pancake recipe for rainy days

There is a food that inevitably comes to mind whenever it rains: pajeon with makgeolli. If you feel your homemade seafood scallion pancake is lacking something, try this golden recipe for an easy, crispy version. It covers how to make seafood scallion pancake, its benefits, and choganjang dipping sauce for pancakes.

On rainy days, pajeon and makgeolli are invariably mentioned together. Eating pajeon with a glass of makgeolli while watching the drizzling rain could be said to express a distinctly Korean sentiment.

Pajeon is a type of Korean pancake that has remained popular because it uses simple ingredients and is easy to make. Adding a variety of seafood turns it into haemul pajeon, which has a chewy texture and a distinctive savory flavor.

For 2 servings, prepare 20–30g of jjokpa green onions, 1 red chili pepper, 2 Cheongyang chili peppers, various seafood (squid, shrimp, clam meat), 2 eggs, 3 cups of pancake powder, 3 cups of cold water, 1/4 onion, 1/6 carrot, and 1/6 zucchini.

1. Wash the jjokpa green onions thoroughly, then cut them into 7–8 bite-sized sections.

2. Julienne the zucchini, carrot, and onion, and thinly slice the chili peppers. Wash the seafood thoroughly and cut it into bite-sized pieces.

3. Beat the eggs together, and first mix only the pancake powder and cold water. If you want to make the seafood scallion pancake crispy, add 3–4 ice cubes at this stage.

4. Add the vegetables and seafood to the pancake powder batter and mix well.

5. Add cooking oil to a frying pan. Once it is sufficiently hot, reduce the heat from medium to low and spread the batter into a wide, even layer. Distribute the seafood and vegetables evenly over the batter, then drizzle the beaten egg over the top.

6. Once it is partially cooked, make sure the vegetables are set in place so they do not scatter, then flip the pancake over.

7. After flipping, use a spatula to press down evenly. Pay special attention to pressing the center part, which is prone to clumping.

8. When the other side is also somewhat cooked, flip it once more. Finish by flipping it 1–2 more times.

Let's make a tangy dipping sauce (choganjang) with the golden ratio to cut through the greasiness of the seafood scallion pancake.

For 2 servings, the ingredients for the dipping sauce are 4 tablespoons of soy sauce, 4 teaspoons of vinegar, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 10g of garlic, 40g of onion, and 30ml of water.

Put the sugar, garlic, onion, and water in a pot, bring the mixture to a boil, and let it cool. Add the vinegar and soy sauce, mix well, and strain through a sieve. Store the finished dipping sauce in the refrigerator.

[FamTimes = Reporter Kim Ah-hyeon]