- 1 cup thinly sliced, fully-fermented kimchi
- 1-2 spring onions (two if thin and small)
- ¼ medium onion
- cooking oil with high smoke point for pan frying
- [optional] 90g minced pork
- 1¼ cups plain flour or buchimgaru (Korean pancake premix) or swap ¼ cup of plain flour with sweet rice flour or corn/potato starch
- 2-3 tbsp juice/liquid from kimchi
- 1 cup icy cold water
- [optional] 1-2 tsp gochujang (Korean chili pepper paste) or gochugaru
- [optional] 1 lightly beaten egg
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp vinegar
- 1 tbsp water
- ½ tsp sugar
- pinch of black pepper
- Thinly slice the kimchi, about 1-1½ cm thick. Cut the spring onions into about 5 cm pieces. If the white part is thick, cut in half lengthwise. Thinly slice the onion.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour (or pancake mix) with the liquid from kimchi, the optional gochujang/gochugaru and egg, and water, a little bit at a time. Start with dissolving the gochujang with water, and mix everything together. Do not over mix.
- Add a little more water if the batter is too thick. The batter should flow easily from a spoon.
- Stir in the kimchi, spring onions, onion and the optional protein of your choice.
- Heat one tablespoon of oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat. Ladle the mixture into the pan, and spread it evenly into a thin round shape. Cook until the edges turn light golden brown, about 3 minutes. Turn it over, and add more oil to the sides of the pan. Gently swirl the pan to distribute the oil under the pancakes. Press the pancake down with a spatula. Cook until the other side is nicely browned and crispy, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Repeat the process until there is no remaining batter. Serve hot with a dipping sauce, if desired.
- Use juice/liquid from kimchi if at all possible.
- Use icy cold water.
- The batter should be thin enough to flow easily from a spoon.
- Spread the batter thin when pan frying.
- Use a generous amount of oil.
- Increase the heat a little to crisp up the pancakes at the end of pan-frying.
