If you’ve wondered what to do with the leftover veg that’s been accumulating in your fridge, we'd like to introduce you to Yachaejeon. In Korean, “yachae” means vegetable and “jeon” means pancake and it’s exactly that, a thin savoury vegetable pancake that is served with a lip-smacking dipping sauce.
Although not traditional, we love adding gochujang to the simple flour and water based batter. It adds a layer of spicy umami as well as a satisfying red colour to the pancakes.
serves 2
Ingredients
Dipping Sauce
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tsp gochugaru (Korean pepper powder)
- 1 tsp sesame seeds
- 1 tsp Gulp chilli oil
Veg
- 1/2 courgette
- 1/2 large carrot
- 1/2 large potato
- 1/2 onion
- 1 mushroom
- 1 green chilli
- 5 spring onions
Pancakes
- 130g bread flour
- 180 ml water
- 1 tbsp gochujang
- oil for frying
- To start, prepare the dipping sauce by combining soy sauce, rice vinegar, chilli oil and chili flakes. Toast the sesame seeds until golden and then add them to the sauce.
- Next, julienne the courgette, carrot, and potato. Peel and finely slice the onion, thinly slice the mushroom and chili, and cut the spring onions into large 3-5 cm pieces. Transfer all the vegetables to a bowl and toss them together to mix well.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together bread flour, water, gochujang, and 1/2 tsp salt until well combined. Add the mixed vegetables to the batter, ensuring that everything is evenly coated.
- Heat some oil in a large non-stick frying pan and add half of the vegetable batter mixture. Initially, the batter may only fill half of the pan, so use a spatula to flatten the pancake until it becomes a thin, even layer. This step is crucial because a thick pancake will steam rather than fry and may not cook through in the center. As the vegetables cook and soften, it will be easier to spread them out, so continue flattening the pancake. Fry the pancake for 4-5 minutes or until it turns golden brown (you can gently lift one side with a spatula to check underneath). Then, shake the pan to loosen the pancake, and confidently flip it in one smooth motion. Drizzle some more oil around the sides, use the spatula to flatten the pancake further, and fry for another 4-5 minutes until the other side is golden brown. Finally, transfer the pancake to a board, cut it into squares, and serve it with the dipping sauce.