Seafood and shallot pancake

with tangy soy dipping sauce

(makes 5 pancakes, feeds 6-8 people)
Recipe from My Korean Kitchen

I haven't had much experience with cooking korean food, probably because I don't go out and eat it too often  because I can't handle the chilli! The main dishes i have eaten are the rather tame ones, one of my favourites is this seafood and shallot pancake. It's crispy and chewy at the same time, and is perfectly complemented with this tangy soy dipping sauce. It's actually really easy to put together, had a couple of friends over and was fun taking turns drizzling and flipping! It makes a great entreé or side dish :)

Prep time: 15 min

Cooking time: 20-30min (approx 5min per pancake)

3 types of flour to get the right texture!

Ingredients

2 C Korean pancake mix

1/4 C tempura flour

1/4 C rice flour

2.5 C icy cold water

5 eggs, 1 per pancake

500g calamari rings or mixed seafood

14 stalks of green onions (shallots)

approx 8 T vegetable oil 

Tangy sauce

1 T raw sugar

2 T soy sauce

2 T water

2 T rice wine vinegar

a few slices of brown onion

1/2 tsp korean gochugaru chilli flakes

1/2 tsp chopped garlic

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1/2 tsp roasted sesame seeds

Method

1. Sift the flour mixtures into a large glass bowl. Add the water and whisk well.

2. Wash and cut the shallots into 15cm lengths. Wash and pat dry the calamari rings.

3. Preheat the pan (24-26cm pan) on medium-high heat and place 1-2T oil into the pan. Lightly beat one egg in a small bowl and set aside.

4. When the pan is hot, then place the shallots length-wise and place 2-3 calamari rings and/or seafood on top of the shallots. Drizzle 1-2 ladles-full of batter in a zig-zag pattern on top of the seafood. Gently spread the egg over the pancake mixture and swivel the pan until it covers the whole pan.

5. Cook on medium heat for 3-5 minutes until the bottom is a nice golden brown. Flip over, add a bit of oil if needed, then continue to cook for another few minutes until crispy. It may help to press down on the pancake to flatten it and maximise cooking surface area!

6. Remove from the pan and place on a paper towel to soak the oil. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until you've made 5 pancakes.

7. Prepare the base sauce by combining the sugar, soy, water and rice wine vinegar. Season with the onion, chilli flakes, garlic, sesame oil and sesame seeds as desired.

8. Serve the pancake chopped into bite-size pieces with the sauce on the side.

Can serve with 2 variations of the sauce, base sauce with just raw onion (front), or slightly chilli version (back)