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Korea, Asia · Haemul Pajeon (Korean Seafood Scallion Pancake)

Crispy Pajeon Chips with Gochujang-Lime Mayo

Thin, lacy palm-sized rounds of shrimp-and-scallion batter fried until they snap like crackers, with a sweet-spicy gochujang dip. Made for a cold beer.

ServingsServes 2
Total cooking time26 min
DifficultyMedium

Method

  1. Pat the shrimp dry and chop them to the size of rice grains (3–5 mm). Slice the scallions into 3 mm rings and deseed and finely chop the chili.

    Add in this stepPeeled raw shrimp 80 gScallions 50 gRed chili ½

  2. Put the flour, potato starch and salt in a bowl, pour in the ice-cold sparkling water and whisk briefly. It should be as runny as milk. Stir in the shrimp, scallions and chili. In a small bowl, mix the mayonnaise, gochujang, honey and lime juice for the dip.

    Add in this stepAll-purpose flour 50 gPotato starch 50 gSalt ½ tspIce-cold sparkling water 150 mlMayonnaise 3 tbspGochujang 1 tspHoney 1 tspLime (or lemon) ½

  3. Pour oil 2 mm deep into a 26 cm frying pan and heat over medium-high heat for .

    Add in this stepCooking oil 120 ml

    medium-high heat

  4. Drop in heaped tablespoons of batter and spread each one thinly to 7 cm with the back of the spoon, leaving space between them. Fry over medium-high heat for until the edges look lacy and golden, then flip and fry over medium heat for more until both sides are firm and crisp like crackers (cook in 3 batches).

    medium-high heat→medium heat

  5. Lift them onto a wire rack rather than paper towels so they stay crisp, and sprinkle with flaky salt while hot. The starch settles, so stir the batter before each batch, and top up the oil when it runs low.

    Add in this stepFlaky sea salt 2 pinch

  6. Pile into a bowl and serve right away with the gochujang mayo. They are at their crispest within 10 minutes.

Cook's tip

The bubbles in the sparkling water and the starch are what make them crisp, so do not make the batter ahead. Spread too thick, you get mini pancakes rather than chips, so press them as thin as you can. Leftovers re-crisp in 3 minutes in a 180°C oven or air fryer.

Cooking it at camp

This uses hot oil, so cook on flat ground out of the wind and use a deep-sided pan. Keep the sparkling water and batter ingredients cold in the cooler and mix on site. Let the used oil cool, soak it up with paper towels and pack it out.