Simple, delicious, vegan Korean recipe.

For these pancakes you will need just 2 ingredients: potatos and onions. Then there is oil for frying, salt and pepper.  No flour, no eggs! You just have to choose potatoes which contain a lot of starch. There is an easy test to check if the potato has a big amount of starch: сut the potatoes in half and rub the halves together. Then grab only one half and see: if the second one holds, as if glued, then there is a lot of starch in it.

Korean cuisine fascinates me. Their pickles and barbecue are famous, but there’s so much more; there are lots of healthy vegetable dishes. Korean pancakes are one of the dishes that I always try to eat when I visit Korea. There’s a big variety of pancakes: chive pancakes, vegetable pancakes, seafood pancakes, kimchi pancakes to name just a few. For this video I have chosen a vegetable pancake Yachaejeon (야채전).

As I can not purchase Korean pancake mix Buchimgaru here, I found a recipe and it’s really easy to make!  As I like thin and crunchy pancakes, I have adjusted the ratio between dough and vegetables to have more vegetables and less dough to make them even crispier. Also I have adjusted amount of chili according to my taste.

This recipe makes 2 pancakes of about 20 cm (8 inch) in diameter and serves 2-3 persons depending how hungry they are.

Mixed vegetables (around 3.5 cups):

4 scallions cut in around 2.5 cm (1 inch) long pieces
1/2 red bell pepper – julienned
1 onion – julienned
1/2 middle carrot – julienned
1/2 red long chili – finely sliced
1 celery stalk – finely sliced
4-5 tbsp vegetable oil for frying

You can also use other vegetables and/or green chili. This is just a combination I like.

Dough mix (Buchimgaru) for 2 pancakes:

40 g (1.4 ounces) wheat flour
18 g (0.6 ounces) cornstarch
20 g (0.7 ounces) rice flour
Pinch of salt
Pinch of garlic powder
Pinch of ground pepper
1/2 cup of water

Dipping sauce:

2 tbsp of Korean soup soy sauce, or light soy sauce
2 tbsp of water
2 tbsp of rice vinegar
Chili flakes (gochugaru) – according to taste
1 tsp sesame seeds (toasted)
1 shallot – cut in about 0.5 cm (0.2 inch) cubes

Let’s make the sauce first.

1. Cut shallot in small cubes.

2. Combine soy sauce, vinegar, chili flakes and sesame seeds in a bowl and mix it well.

3. Transfer it to a small bowl and set aside.

Let’s prepare the pancake mix Buchimgaru.

1. Combine wheat flour, cornstarch, rice flour, salt, pepper and garlic powder.

2. And 1/2 cup water and mix well.

Let’s prepare the vegetable mix.

1. Julienne carrot, red bell pepper and onion.

2. Cut scallions in about 5 cm (2.5 inch) long pieces.

3. Combine all vegetables in a bowl with the dough and mix gently, but well.

Let’s make the pancakes.

1. Heat up a non-stick skillet over medium high heat. I use a 20 сm (8 inches) non-stick skillet.

2. Add about 2 tablespoons vegetable oil and swirl it around to coat the skillet evenly.

3. Add half of the batter / vegetable mix to the skillet and spread it out thinly and evenly.

4. Occasionally press down the pancake with the spatula.

5. Fry for 4 to 5 minutes until the bottom turns crunchy and golden brown. Twirl the skillet around now and then to let the oil spread evenly.

6. Turn, or flip over the pancake.

7. Add 1 additional tablespoon of vegetable oil along the edges of the pancake. Tilt the skillet to let the oil flow underneath the pancake evenly.

8. Cook for about 4 minutes from the other side until it gets light golden brown.

9. Turn over a few times.

10. Transfer ready pancake to a plate and serve right away with the dipping sauce.

Enjoy!