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What makes Korean pancakes (jeon, often called chijimi in Japan) crisp on the outside is spreading the batter thinly across the whole pan and frying it in a generous amount of sesame oil. This is a basic recipe for two servings (one pancake in a 26 cm frying pan) made with garlic chives and carrot, along with tips for getting it crisp. A soy and vinegar dipping sauce is included.
Ingredients (2 servings)
- Garlic chives: 50 g (half a bunch)
- Carrot: 30 g
- Plain flour: 60 g
- Potato starch: 30 g
- Egg: 1
- Water: 100 ml
- Salt: a pinch
- Toasted sesame oil: 2 tbsp
- Dipping sauce: 1 tbsp soy sauce
- Dipping sauce: 1 tbsp vinegar
- Dipping sauce: a few toasted white sesame seeds
The dry mix is two parts flour to one part starch. The sauce is equal amounts of soy sauce and vinegar. Garlic chives (also sold as Chinese chives or nira) are flat-leaved chives with a mild garlic flavor, found at Asian grocery stores. You can leave out the carrot and make the pancake with garlic chives alone.
Instructions
1. Mix the dipping sauce
Stir the soy sauce, vinegar and sesame seeds together in a small dish and set aside.
2. Cut the vegetables
Cut the garlic chives into 4 cm lengths. Cut the carrot into fine matchsticks.
3. Make the batter
Combine the flour and potato starch in a bowl. Add the egg, water and salt, and mix well until no lumps of flour remain. Add the garlic chives and carrot and fold them in lightly.
4. Spread thinly and fry
Heat 1 tbsp of the sesame oil in a 26 cm frying pan over medium heat. Pour in the batter, spread it across the whole pan, and level it so the thickness is even. Fry without moving it for 3–4 minutes, until the underside is golden brown.
5. Flip, add oil and fry the other side
Flip the pancake and pour the remaining 1 tbsp of sesame oil around the edge of the pan. Fry for about 3 minutes, pressing down lightly with a spatula. Take it out when both sides are crisp.
6. Slice
Cut into bite-size pieces, arrange on a plate, and serve with the dipping sauce from step 1.
Tips for getting it right
Spread the batter thinly across the whole pan
A thick pancake takes longer to cook through, steams as it does, and comes out soft. Spreading the batter to the edge of the pan as soon as it goes in, and leveling out any thick spots, lets the whole pancake cook at the same pace and the surface turn crisp.
Add the sesame oil in two stages
If all the oil goes in at the start, the batter soaks it up while the first side fries and none is left for the second. Holding back half and pouring it around the edge after flipping gets oil under the second side too, so both sides crisp up alike.
Mix potato starch into the flour
Batter made with flour alone cooks up soft and fluffy. Adding potato starch gives a crisp surface and a slightly chewy inside.
Leave it alone until it browns
The batter breaks easily before it has set, so don’t touch it until the underside is well browned. When you flip it, lifting with two spatulas, one in each hand, makes it less likely to crack.
Press lightly after flipping
Pressing down lightly with a spatula keeps the pancake in full contact with the pan, so it browns more evenly.
Troubleshooting
It came out soft and greasy rather than crisp. The batter was too thick or there wasn’t enough oil. Spread the batter thinly to the edge of the pan, and add sesame oil around the edge after flipping. If a finished pancake is soft, return it to the pan over medium heat and fry both sides again while pressing down.
It broke when I flipped it. It was flipped before the underside had set. Fry for 3–4 minutes and flip only once it is golden brown. If it does break, push the pieces back together in the pan and keep frying; it won’t show once the pancake is sliced.
The outside burned but the inside is still raw. The heat was too high or the batter too thick. Keep the heat at medium and level the batter thinly before frying.
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Sources
- NHK Minna no Kyou no Ryouri, “Seafood chijimi” by Yoshiko Fujino (in Japanese)
- NHK Minna no Kyou no Ryouri, “Chijimi with outer napa cabbage leaves” by Kentetsu Koh (in Japanese)
- Ajinomoto Park, “Garlic chive chijimi” (in Japanese)
- Ajinomoto Park, “Easy chijimi” (in Japanese)
- Delish Kitchen, “Garlic chive chijimi” (in Japanese)
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