Korean vegetable pancakes (yachae jeon)
Big, lacy pancakes packed with zucchini, carrot and green onion, pan-fried until crisp and dunked in a tangy soy dipping sauce.
- 35 min total
- 30 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 2
- About $1.91 a serving
- 710 calories
- Vegetarian
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- 1 zucchini, medium
- 1 carrot
- ½ yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 4 green onions, cut into 2-inch pieces
- 2 large eggs
- ½ tsp sesame seeds
From your pantry
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- ½ tsp salt
- ¾ cup water, ice cold
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil, divided
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- ½ tsp sugar
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes
Each serving has about 710 calories, 17 g protein, 70 g carbs and 40 g fat, and costs about $1.91 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No zucchini? Yellow squash works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No green onions? Chives work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Cut the zucchini and carrot into thin 2-inch matchsticks. the onion and cut the green onions.
Slice. Slicing means cutting food into flat pieces of about the same thickness. Even slices cook evenly, so none are raw while others burn.
How you’ll know: Lay a few side by side: they’re close to the same thickness from one end to the other.
Dolly’s tip: Thin sticks cook through in the time the pancake takes to crisp.the flour, cornstarch, salt, eggs and ice-cold water into a smooth, runny batter. all the vegetables.
Whisk. Whisking means beating quickly with a whisk or a fork to blend things together. It smooths out lumps and mixes eggs, oil or sauces evenly.
How you’ll know: It all looks one even color and texture, with no streaks or lumps.
Fold. Folding means mixing gently by scooping from the bottom and turning it over the top, instead of stirring hard. It keeps light mixtures airy and soft things like berries or herbs in one piece.
How you’ll know: You use slow, wide strokes and stop as soon as there are no streaks left.
Dolly’s tip: Ice-cold water is the trick for a crisp, lacy pancake. Don’t overmix.Stir the soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, pepper flakes and sesame seeds together for the dipping sauce.
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large nonstick over medium-high heat until it . Pour in half the batter and spread it into a thin 9-inch round.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Shimmering oil. Oil shimmers when it’s hot enough to cook: its surface looks rippled and wavy, like heat over a road. That’s your cue to add the food, just before the oil would start to smoke.
How you’ll know: The oil looks wavy and runs thin like water when you tilt the pan, with no smoke yet.
Medium-high heat
Cook until the bottom is and , 4 to 5 minutes. Slide it onto a plate, flip it back into the pan, ½ tablespoon oil around the edge and cook 3 to 4 minutes more.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Drizzle. Drizzling means pouring a thin, slow stream over the top of something. A thin stream spreads a little flavor a long way.
How you’ll know: You see thin lines across the food, not a puddle collecting underneath.
Medium-high heatTimer: 9 min
Dolly’s tip: Sliding it onto a plate and flipping it back is much easier than flipping a big pancake with a spatula.Food safety: For the safest eggs, cook until the whites are fully set and the yolks begin to thicken. Dishes made with eggs are done at 160°F.
Make the second pancake the same way with the rest of the oil. Cut into wedges and serve hot with the dipping sauce.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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