Not only is this a traditional dish in Korean shows, but also an actual popular favorite by eaters across in real life! I have tried making this since I was in college (not saying I made it often, just saying I made multiple attempts), but I never got close to the crispy texture I had in a few very good korean restaurants in the Bay or in Korea. Even in restaurants, seafood pancake could still be a hit or miss as some places don’t make it as crispy as I personally preferred.
Only till recently have I been able to replicate seafood pancake partial similar to what restaurants made, and have shared my partial success below.
QUICK TAKEAWAYS
- A few ways to make seafood pancake crispy and not wet / soft:
- mix pancake mix with frying mix to make it crispy
- instead of mixing pancake mix with certain water volume, then add scallion / seafood ingredients in as instructed on package, directly coat ingredients with dry mix, to minimize water / moist needed in pancake
- heat up pan in high heat till smoke arises, then turn it down to medium for cooking so the scallions get crispy when put onto super hot pan but not too hot to burn them right away
- keep poking the pancake with spatula edge to make sure the heat comes through when cooking both sides; press pancake down, especially the edge down to make it being fried better and crispier
- add more oil
- be patient and cook over low heat till can see scallion and outer layer getting crisp!
RECIPE
(2 pancakes, 6-7inch)
- 8-10 scallions, chop in chunks
- Korean frying mix
- Korean pancake mix
- assorted seafood of choice: shrimps, octopus, clams, imitation crab
- 1 egg
- jalapeno slices
- dipping sauce:
- 1tbsp soy sauce
- 1tbsp water
- pinch of pepper
- 1-2tsp Gochugaru / Korean chili powder
- 1tsp sugar / honey
STEP 0: mix ingredients of dipping sauce in a bowl and mix well
STEP 1: wash scallion and chop into chunks of 7-8cm in length; cut jalapeno or pepper in slices
STEP 2: wash seafood, especially shell-fish to get rid of all the soil, sand hidden. cut seafoods into small pieces, tear imitation crab up into slices as well
STEP 3: mix 1/2 cup frying mix and 1/2 cup pancake mix, mix well. First coat scallion with the dry mix, add a few tbsp of water to make sure the mix stay on scallion
STEP 4: then coat seafood with dry mix, also just add in a few tbsp of water
STEP 5: beat up an egg and whisk well
STEP 6: over high heat, add oil to pan, make sure the whole surface, including the edge are brushed/coated by oil. When smoke rises from pan, the temperature is hot enough, turn down heat to medium, and first add in scallion chunks, spread them out so that ideally scallion chunks do not stack on top of each other
- I tried adding onions in this pancake, but the moist from onion makes the pancake not as crispy, so I won’t add onion slices next time
STEP 7: then layer seafood mix on top, followed by imitation crab slices, spread them out. If there are spaces between scallion and seafood which does not have any pancake mix, add in a few tbsp water to the container where we mix scallion or seafood with pancake mix, pour them in the pan
STEP 8: place a few slices of jalapeno / pepper, use spatula to poke them so they blend in with scallion, seafood mixture
STEP 9: pour whisk egg on top of the pancake, use spatula to poke the pancake so some egg can flow through the pancake and heat comes through the pancake as well, cooking the inside
STEP 10: use spatula to lift pancake edge up, if the scallion side is crispy, golden, flip pancake; add oil if needed
- adding oil does help making pancake crispy, but it is also… OILY
STEP 11: when both sides are cooked, crispy and golden, remove from pan and serve with dipping sauce!
- patience is needed to cook over low heat to get a crispy outer layer and soft inner layer
ENJOY!
RESOURCES
