''Pajeon'' (, ) is a variety of '' jeon'' with scallion as its prominent ingredient, as ''pa'' () means scallion. It is a Korean dish made from a batter of eggs, wheat

flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many culture ...

, rice flour, scallions, and often other ingredients depending on the variety. Beef, pork, kimchi,

shellfish Shellfish is a colloquial and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater envir ...

, and other

seafood Seafood is any form of sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of molluscs (e.g. bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters and mussels, and cephalopods such as octopus an ...

are mostly used.Pajeon
at

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If one of these ingredients, such as

squid True squid are molluscs with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight arms, and two tentacles in the superorder Decapodiformes, though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also called squid despite not strictly fitting t ...

, dominates the jeon, the name will reflect that; ''ojing'eo jeon'' (오징어전) is 'squid jeon. ''Pajeon'' is usually recognizable by the highly visible scallions. It is similar to a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

scallion pancake in appearance; however, unlike the Chinese dish (but like Western

pancake A pancake (or hotcake, griddlecake, or flapjack) is a flat cake, often thin and round, prepared from a Starch, starch-based batter (cooking), batter that may contain eggs, milk and butter and cooked on a hot surface such as a griddle or fryi ...

s), it is made from a liquid batter and thus has a lighter texture.

Preparation

It is made by placing '' jjokpa'' scallions parallel on a hot pan with vegetable oil, pan-frying them, then ladling onto them the batter made by mixing wheat flour, water,

soybean paste Fermented bean paste is a category of fermented foods typically made from ground soybeans, which are indigenous to the cuisines of East, South and Southeast Asia. In some cases, such as the production of ''miso'', other varieties of beans, such ...

, and sugar. The pancake is turned over when the bottom holds together and is golden-brown. It is usually served with a dipping sauce made of soy sauce.

Type

Some varieties of ''pajeon'', with the shape of scallions preserved as in dongnae pajeon are typical jeon. Some other varieties, with the scallions cut and mixed into the batter, are closer to buchimgae.

Seafood ''pajeon''

In Korean, a seafood ''pajeon'' is called ''haemul pajeon'' (해물파전). Various seafood are used in the batter and toppings, e.g.,

oysters Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not al ...

shrimp Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are refer ...

, clams.

Dongnae ''pajeon''

Dongnae ''pajeon'' is named after ''Dongnaesung'' (동래성), a former fortress in the Joseon Dynasty and now a district in the city of Busan. Dongnae was a prominent battleground during the Imjin WarDongnae Fortress
at

and legend says the people of Dongnae threw scallions while defeating the invading Japanese soldiers. Dongnae ''pajeon'' was made in honor of the victory.Dongnae pajeon
at

The dish was also presented at the king's table and became popular when the Dongnae market flourished in the

Joseon Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and re ...

era. Dongnae ''pajeon'' is usually made from a batter of rice flour,

glutinous rice Glutinous rice (''Oryza sativa var. glutinosa''; also called sticky rice, sweet rice or waxy rice) is a type of rice grown mainly in Southeast and East Asia, and the northeastern regions of South Asia, which has opaque grains, very low amylose ...

flour, eggs, and ''

gochujang ''Gochujang'' (, from Korean: , ) or red chili paste * is a savory, sweet, and spicy fermented condiment popular in Korean cooking. It is made from gochu-garu (chili powder), glutinous rice, ''meju'' (fermented soybean) powder, ''yeotgireum'' ...

''. Soft scallions, beef, clams, mussels, oysters, shrimp and other seafood are added.Dongnae pajeon
- Dongnae Pajeon Research Group, Dongnae-gu office

References

External links

Seafood pajeon recipe

Dongnae Pajeon Research Group, Dongnae-gu office
at New York Times * ttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/21/WIHTVK262.DTL Pairings: Korean pancake flips for wineat San Francisco Chronicle
Recipe for pajeon
at

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{{Buchimgae Korean pancakes Scallion dishes