Korean Cooking: You've Had Kimchi, How About Kimchijeon?

By now I’m sure you’ve heard of the food most often associated with Korea. That being kimchi. The spicy fermented cabbage side dish is a necessary side dish on every Korean table. Maybe you’ve even tried it. But, have you tried kimchijeon (김치전)? Jeon, or Korean pancakes would be the easiest description, can be made with a variety of vegetables and even fish.

There are loads of options for “jeon” as well: kimchijeon, seafoodjeon, squidjeon, or vegetablejeon, among others. Haven’t eaten it often enough, I wondered if it was truly as easy as making pancakes. Looking for a makgeolli and jeon meal, I started with kimchijeon. You can even make makgeolli at home too. Do that, and you’ve got a great evening at home. Jeon is most often enjoyed with makgeolli on rainy days in Korea. Try it where you are and see if it has the same comforting feeling.

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Ingredients

1 cup kimchi
2 tbs. onion
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 cup flour
vegetable oil

Directions

1. Chop up the kimchi, mine was shipped up from my mother-in-law down in Busan. Put it in a bowl along with 3tbs of the kimchi juice, the onions, salt, sugar, flour and a 1/4 cup of water. Mix well.

2. Heat up a skillet and pour the oil in.

3. Add the batter to the skillet and cook for a couple of minutes on each side, the time depends on how thin you make it. Maangchi suggested 1 1/2 minutes on each side, but I think mine was thicker and took 2 1/2 minutes to cook thoroughly on each side.