Pajeon

Pajeon or pa-jun are Korean spring onion pancakes. They're so simple to make and taste great, scoring high on the effort to flavour conversion!

Ingredients
serves 4

125g plain flour
30g rice flour
1/4 tsp salt
black pepper
1 large egg
2 tsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp sunflower oil
4 bunches of spring onions, (approx. 6 per bunch), trimmed, halved then sliced lengthways once
3 green chillies (or red chillies), deseeded and sliced thinly

for the dipping sauce
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 piece ginger, grated and juice squeezed 
2 tsp sesame seeds, toasted

Method

Toast the sesame seeds in a dry frying pan until you can smell the toastedness. Allow to cool.
Then mix all the ingredients for the dipping sauce together.

Sift the plain flour and rice flour into a bowl. Add salt and pepper and soy sauce then break in the egg. Add 250ml of cold water a little at a  time, whisking up into a smooth batter. Leave in the fridge for 15 minutes.

Warm up the oven to keep the pancakes warm as they are cooked.

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large frying pan and gently wilt the spring onions with the chillies for a bout 3 or 4 minutes. Remove to one side and separate into a dozen batches. 

Re-heat the frying pan with some oil to a medium temperature. Pour in 3 tbsp of the batter and rotate the pan to spread the batter evenly. It should form a small pancake around 12cm in diameter. Take a portion of the spring onion and green chillies and spread over the pancake. 

Cook for about 4 minutes before flipping the pancake over, pressing it down to char the spring onions. Cook for about 2 minutes on this side.

Once done wrap in foil and keep warm in the oven.  This recipe should make about 12 small pancakes.

Serve the pancakes rolled and pre-cut into bite sized pieces. Eat with chopsticks to dip into the soy/vinegar sauce.