Kinja Eats: Haemul Pajeon

April 22, 2019

Daily Dish:

Haemul Pajeon

(Seafood cakes)

Pajeon (파전, Korean pronunciation: ) is a variety of jeon with scallion as its prominent ingredient, as pa (파) means scallion. It is a Korean dish made from a batter of eggs, wheat flour, rice flour, scallions, and often other ingredients depending on the variety. Beef, pork, kimchi, shellfish, and other seafood are mostly used. If one of these ingredients, such as squid, dominates the jeon, the name will reflect that; ojing'eo jeon (오징어전) is 'squid jeon'.

Pajeon is usually recognizable by the highly visible scallions. It is similar to a Chinese scallion pancake in appearance but is less dense in texture and not made from a dough.

Preparation

It is made by placing jjokpa scallions parallely on a hot pan with vegetable oil, pan-frying them, then ladling onto them the batter made by mixing wheat flour, water, soybean paste, and sugar. The pancake is turned over when the bottom holds together and is golden-brown. It is usually served with a dipping sauce made of soy sauce.

Type

Some varieties of pajeon, with the shape of scallions preserved as in dongnae pajeon are typical jeon. Some other varieties, with the scallions cut and mixed into the batter, are closer to buchimgae.

Seafood pajeon

In Korean, a seafood pajeon is called haemul pajeon (해물파전). Various seafood are used in the batter and toppings, e.g., oysters, shrimp, squid, clams.

Dongrae pajeon

Dongrae pajeon is named after Dongraesung (동래성), a former fortress in the Joseon Dynasty and now a district in the city of Busan. Dongrae was a prominent battleground during the Imjin War and legend says the people of Dongrae threw scallions while defeating the invading Japanese soldiers. Dongrae pajeon was made in honor of the victory.

The dish was also presented at the king's table and became popular when the Dongrae market flourished in the Joseon era.

Dongrae pajeon is usually made from a batter of rice flour, glutinous rice flour, eggs, and gochujang. Soft scallions, beef, clams, mussels, oysters, shrimp and other seafood are added.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pajeon

At Kinja, our haemul pajeon is made in house and fresh to order. We use a family recipe that produces a savory pancake that your taste buds are going to love. If your in the mood for a savory and satisfying dish that is just as exciting and new as it is delicious, then look no further than our haemul pajeon.

Author: Kinja