Haemul Pajeon

Ingredients

• 2 large bunches spring onions, about 250g, trimmed and left whole
• 200g mixed seafood such as squid, prawns and clam meat, chopped small
• 120g plain flour
• 60g potato starch
• 1 tsp fine salt
• 230ml ice-cold water
• 1 egg
• 1 red chilli, sliced
• 1 green chilli, sliced
• 6 tbsp neutral oil, for frying
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tsp gochugaru
• 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds
• 1 spring onion, finely sliced, for the dip

Before you cook

• Trim the spring onions and cut them to fit the width of your pan, leaving them whole
• Chop the seafood into small pieces and pat it dry
• Whisk the flour, potato starch and salt with the ice-cold water into a thin batter, no thicker than double cream
• Mix the soy sauce, vinegar, gochugaru, sesame seeds and sliced spring onion into a dipping sauce

Steps

1. Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a 24cm frying pan over medium-high heat until a drop of batter sizzles instantly.
2. Lay half the spring onions across the pan in a single tight raft, all pointing the same way.
3. Ladle half the batter evenly over the spring onions so it seeps into the gaps.
4. Scatter half the seafood and half the sliced chillies over the top.
5. Fry for 4 minutes without moving the pan, until the underside is set and browned.
6. Beat the egg and pour half of it over the surface of the pancake.
7. Slide the pancake onto a plate, invert the pan over it, and flip the whole thing back into the pan.
8. Press the pancake flat with a spatula and drizzle a tablespoon of oil around the rim.
9. Fry for 3 minutes more until the second side is crisp and the seafood is cooked.
10. Turn it out onto a board and cut it into squares with scissors.
11. Cook the second pancake the same way with the remaining ingredients.
12. Serve hot with the dipping sauce, ideally alongside makgeolli.