Kimchi Jeon, or Kimchi Pancake, is a savoury pancake from South Korea that is umami-packed and super crispy. This dish is commonly eaten on rainy days due to the sound of rain reminds the people of the sound of oil sizzling when cooking jeon (that’s a fun fact for you).

If you’re also unfamiliar with kimchi, it’s a spicy fermented cabbage side dish that’s incredibly popular in every Korean household. “Fermented cabbage” does sound scary but it’s super delicious – spicy, refreshing and a little funky from the fermentation. What’s awesome about kimchi is that it’s super versatile and can be added to a lot of dishes, like kimchi soup, kimbab and even this kimchi pancake recipe. If you’re looking to explore Korean flavours at home then this recipe is a great starting point. These pancakes are so easy to recreate at home – let me show you how!

The ingredients you’ll need for this recipe and some tips to help you along the way!

1. Kimchi: it’s spicy fermented cabbage (trust me, it tastes better than it sounds) that you can find in Asian grocery stores. Most bigger supermarkets these days also stock them. There are many different types of kimchi and this recipe uses the traditional cabbage version. The kimchi will also taste quite different depending on how long it has been fermented for – freshly made kimchi will taste more mild, crunchier and more refreshing, whereas aged kimchi will be more sour, funkier and more complex. You want aged kimchi for this recipe, the sourness really adds another layer of complexity to these pancakes.
2. Kimchi brine: i’m preferring to the broth/liquid that comes with the kimchi! It’s packed with flavour and saltiness which will season your pancake! This is also why we want aged kimchi – aged kimchi has more liquid from the fermentation process which freshly made kimchi would have less of.
3. Protein: you can be creative here – normally kimchi pancake doesn’t have much other protein but i’ve seen variations with pork belly and seafood. If you would like to add pork belly or seafood, just add them into your batter and you can continue on with recipe as normal.
4. Batter: the base of the batter is simply just plain flour, water and sugar. Let the kimchi do the rest! Even better if you can find Korean pancake mix at your local Asian grocery store – they are top tier.
5. Onions: you need 2 varieties – green onion (or scallion) and traditional white onion. Both adds flavour and texture to the pancake which you should not omit!
6. Storage: i highly recommend you to make and consume the pancake within 1 hour for ultimate crispiness! If this is not possible, i suggest you make these in advance and you can store them in the fridge for up to 2 days. To reheat, simply place the pancake back into a hot pan with oil and refry until crisp!

Ingredients

200g aged kimchi, chopped
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup water
3 tbsp kimchi brine
2 green onion/scallion, chopped into 4cm/2inch batons
1/2 onion, sliced
1 tsp sugar

Method

1. In a bowl, add in all the ingredients and mix well.
2. Drizzle generously with vegetable oil into a pan and bring it up to medium heat. Add in the batter and spread it out evenly into a circle. Leave to cook and crisp up for 4-5 minutes.
3. Flip the pancake and drizzle some oil along the edges of the pancake. Leave to cook for another 4-5 minutes.
4. Cut into 9 pieces and serve with soy sauce (optional)