Alice Kim’s Yachaejeon or Vegetable Pancake

Here is the recipe for yachaejeon or vegetable pancake. (We also call this pajeon. Pa means green onions, and yachae means vegetables. Jeon means fried pancake.) This is an all-time favorite dish for Koreans. It often appears on our table, and a lot of Koreans crave this on a rainy day. It goes well with rice, or by itself as well. You’ll notice how you can experiment with what goes into the batter, like adding onions to it.

1/2 cup flour
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup water
1/2 cup green onions chopped in a roughly two-inch length
3 cups Asian chives chopped (or if you don’t have this, just replace with more green onions)
1/2 cup zucchini shredded
2/3 cup shrimp and/or scallops (optional)
eggs (optional)
oil for cooking
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp rice vinegar

In a mixing bowl, combine 1/2 cup of flour, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 2/3 cup of water.
Add green onions, Asian chives and zucchini into the flour mixture.
Mix the batter well.
On a heated fry pan, drizzle about a tablespoon of oil and spread the batter, like when you are making pancake. Lower the heat to medium.
Place the seafood on top of the vegetables and press down with a spoon or spatula.
When the pancake is cooked about 70%, with the rim turning brown, beat one egg and spread it around the center of the pancake. Cook a couple of minutes over low heat.
Turn over the pancake with a spatula.
Add more oil as needed.
Serve it with a dipping sauce of soy sauce and vinegar combined.

You can get a video of making this dish here