Pajun (Korean Pancakes )

You know me - I like weird foods, and I like to experiment with ethnic foods.  So when my mom pinned a recipe for something called pajun, which is a Korean pancake loaded with julienned vegetables, it took me about 2 seconds to decide to try it out immediately.  Savory pancakes and vegetables?!  What's not to like?

Mom and I were the only ones home and by the time she found this recipe, we were both starving, so she was my sous chef to hurry things along.  We used my food processor to shred the vegetables rather than julienne them by hand, and since we didn't have frozen hash brown potatoes on hand, we just shredded raw potatoes.  I whipped up the sauce and the batter while my mom shredded the vegetables, and soon it was time to put it all together.  We used our smallest nonstick skillet to make the pancakes, but it was still very hard to flip the pancakes.  I recommend using the smallest skillet you have, because flipping a pancake that is the size of the pan itself is hard enough!  Also try to make them thin; it will cook more evenly.  My mom was definitely way better at flipping than me - mine ended up looking terrible (but still tasted the same!).

We did worry about the pancakes burning, because they do go from well done to burned pretty quickly; just know that the second side cooks quicker than the first, although the recipe says that both sides take 4-5 minutes per side.  We found that they cooked faster than that; it was about 4 minutes for the first side, 2 for the second.

One side cooked, one to go!

In the end, the two of us really enjoyed them, but no one else has been interested in trying them.  I think when you say you have vegetable pancakes, people get freaked out.  But they were good: healthy, really filling, and full of fresh veggies, and the sauce was really great too.  If you are feeling exotic and wild, why not whip some pajun?

Recipe:

pajun (Korean pancakes)

from A Spicy Perspective

Ingredients:
for the Pajun:
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups water
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 cups frozen hash browns, thawed
1 cup shredded carrots
1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced julienne
1 small zucchini, sliced julienne
1 bunch green onions, cut in 1 inch sections
pepper to taste
vegetable oil for cooking

for the dipping sauce:
1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 minced garlic clove
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper (I left this out)

Instructions:

1) Place all the dipping sauce ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl.  Whisk and warm in the microwave for 1-2 minutes, just long enough for the sugar to dissolve.  Whisk again and set aside.

2) In a large bowl, beat the flour, water, egg and salt.  Set the batter aside to rest.

3) Preheat 2 nonstick skillets to medium high heat.  Slice all the vegetables julienne (long, thin strips) and mix into the batter.  Pepper to taste (I didn't taste it since it has eggs in it!).  If the batter still seems very thick, add 2-3 tablespoons of water and mix well.

4) Now add a little oil to each skillet and swirl around.  Ladle enough batter into each skillet to completely cover the bottoms.  Fry 4-5 minutes per side.

5) Repeat with remaining batter.

6) Cut the Korean pancakes into wedges and serve warm with dipping sauce,