Carefree Cooking

Korean Pancake

Whenever I go to a korean restaurant, I'm always tempted to get the korean pancake. Unfortunately, the pancake is not usually cheap and comes in a big portion so I can't finish it myself. I always thought that the batter was made up of egg (like an omelette). Not sure why the word "pancake" didn't make me think that it was made up of flour.

While browsing through a korean supermarket for some potato noodles, I saw a pack of korean pancake mix (although it's probably just called regular pancake mix there). I grabbed a pack since it was fairly inexpensive ($2.5 CAD) for a kilo of mix. One good thing about korean people is that they are generally nice. The cashier thought I was korean and started talking to me. I gave her a confused look and she realized I was just a korean wannabe and didn't really understand the language. She then said in english that there is another brand that is currently on sale. Wow, who said you need to look for bargains...these nice people tell you where the bargains are. She even asked one of the worker to grab that pack for me. Guess how much that mix cost? $1 for the same 1 kilo pancake mix. So I happily left the supermarket.

I didn't try it out until the other day. Unfortunately they put a sticker on top of the instruction so I had to spend some time peeling it off to figure out how to create the batter. The english instructions wasn't best in class, but I understood enough to determine how much pancake mix needs to be mixed with water. Dissolving the mix in water was quite a challenge. I need to figure out how to make this easier. Perhaps a hand blender will do the trick. Since I didn't really use a measuring cup to measure the flour (although I did measure the water), I didn't know if I was doing it right or not. The first batch that I made was too watery. So I just added more pancake mix until I got the right thick consistency. If you ever made pancake before, you are looking for the same consistency.

For the toppings, you can really use any meat and/or vegetables you want. Just make sure you cut them into small pieces. I just grabbed whatever I had in my fridge at that time: onions, green onions, frozen shrimp, chinese sausage, and bean sprouts. You can also add some kimchi but not everyone at home is a fan of that so I didn't want to risk it. I first sauteed the onions and chinese sausage just so that they will be nicely cooked. After all, when they are in the batter, they will not really cook that much. Combine all the toppings with the batter and use a ladle to pour a nice portion on a pan (make sure the pan has a nice coating of oil). One of the mistake I made was that I made the pancake too big. This makes it hard to flip it. It also causes the oil to splash after flipping so don't make the same mistake I made of burning myself. Cook until the top and bottom are "nice and golden grown". You want the outside to be crispy. I haven't really investigated what sauce usually goes with the pancake. So for now, I just use Maggi Seasoning to spice up the pancake. I'll update this entry once I find out and try the "real" sauce.

Good korean restaurants serve the pancake on a hot metal plate so the longer the pancake stays there, the crispier it gets. If you don't have such a metal plate, don't sweat it. Just put it in a regular plate and serve immediately. If you make the portion small enough, you don't have to worry about the pancake getting soggy since you'll probably finish it quickly anyways. I don't know if you consider this as carefree cooking since there are many steps involved in preparing this, but the reward is definitely worth it. My wife and my sister loves the pancake. One good thing is that you don't have to cook it all at the same time. Just put the batter in the fridge and cook it when you want to eat. Perfect dish for breakfast, lunch, or dinner courtesy of our korean friends.

posted by carefreecooking @ 9:00 AM