Savory Korean Shrimp Pancake

Do you remember the greatest gift you’ve ever received? I do. It wasn’t the Barbie doll I got when I was 7 or the perfume at 18 years old or the Blue Man Group show at 24 years old. All those were good. But the greatest gift I’ve ever received was savory breakfast. Thanks to Malaysia.

Seriously.

Birthdays come once a year. If you include Valentine’s, anniversaries and Ayyam-i-Has, those are just three extra days. But breakfast though… that’s 365 days a year. It’s important.

You see, I am not a sweet breakfast type of person at all. Sweet jam or peanut butter on toasts. Sweet cereal with milk. Sweet syrup on pancakes or French toasts. Sweet muffins. Sweet everything. Aaahhhhhhhh. I. Can’t. Take. It. Of course these are Mr. V’s favorite. We just had to be that different.

So thank God (literally), I grew up in Malaysia. We have an abundance of (and I mean a whole freaking a lot of) savory breakfast. From Nasi Lemak or Roti Canai (which is the staple Malaysian breakfast) to wonton noodles, pork noodles, prawn noodles, flat noodle soup (Pan Mee), pork ribs in spices (Bah Kut Teh), Fried Vermicelli, Dim Sum… and and.. I’ll stop here. If I’m going to list everything, I’d have to write a book. Point is, I was well taken care of by my country.

Of course, no one in their right mind would cook any of these from scratch for breakfast because we simply have too many eateries everywhere selling these delicious breakfast at an affordable price. Sadly though, when I left Malaysia a decade ago, that was the of end it. Absolutely dreadful. No more breakfast. Oh, the pain.

So you can imagine the joy I felt when one night, at a Korean restaurant in Taiwan (the never ending ironies in my life, really), I had my very first Korean Savory Shrimp Pancake. Crispy on the outside yet lightly chewy on the inside. Filling. Satisfying. Gratifying. Yes, I realized it was for dinner, but why not have it for breakfast? On a side note, I have cravings for waffles and sweet maple syrup for dinner. With fried chicken. I’m weird like that.

Yay to me and all you desperate savory breakfast looking people out there. All the hard work my heart was wishing and my brains were thinking has finally paid off. One new savory breakfast easily made at home… check! Ninety-nine more to look for? Oy vey.

Rice flour is added along with all-purpose flour as it gives a greater depth of flavor than just all-purpose flour alone. The trick to making these babies crispy:

a. Batter must be cold

b. Skillet must be hot

c. Sufficient oil in pan

d. Pancake must not be too thick.

If you haven’t already done so, check out my last post Sloppy Joes with Caramelized Onions. Ooey, gooey delicious ground beef in sweet, savory and tangy sauce top with caramelized onions all in a fragrant buttered bun.

What, to you, is the greatest gift received?

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Savory Korean Shrimp Pancake             Makes two 9″ wide (1/3″ thick) pancakes  

3/4 cup all-purpose flour (3.18 oz scoop and sweep method)
1/4 cup rice flour
2 tbs cornstarch
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp sugar
2/3 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
1 cup cold water
1 egg
12 medium raw, peeled shrimp, patted dry, halved to make it thinner & lightly seasoned with salt
10 thin green onions, cut into 2″ in length, white parts halved lengthwise (see notes)
2 medium carrots, super thinly sliced
2 red chilies, deseeded and sliced (optional)

Sauce:
1 tbs soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp rice vinegar
1/2 – 1 tsp water
1/8 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp toasted sesame seeds
Couple drops sesame oil
1/8 tsp chili flakes (optional)

directions:

1. Add a generous coat of oil to the bottom of a 10″ cast iron pan. Turn the heat to medium to preheat the pan.

2. In a bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, rice flour, cornstarch, onion powder, garlic powder, sugar and salt.

3. Add the cold water to the dry mix, crack the egg and combine until smooth. Do not over mix or gluten may form and pancake will be tough. Batter consistency is similar to a thick crepe batter. If it feels runny, add another 1 tablespoon of flour. If it’s too thick, add a little more cold water.

4. Sprinkle some salt and all-purpose flour onto the carrots n green onions. Add the carrots and green onions to the batter and stir. Ratio of batter to vegetables: There should be some vegetables that can’t ‘fit’ in the batter. If you don’t like too much filling, that’s fine too. Add less vegetables.

5. When oil is almost smoking, pour half the batter in. If should be sizzling (Sizzling equals crispiness). Work quickly to spread the batter and vegetables to make sure they’re even and not too thick. Too thick of a pancake is difficult to cook through.

6. Top the pancake with 1/2 shrimp n 1/2 red chilies. Push down the shrimp so that it is snug in the batter (or else it will be difficult to evenly cook the batter when you flip later).

7. Fry for 3-4 minutes or until bottom is crisp and brown. Shrimp will start to turn a little pink and pancake would have almost set.

8. Carefully flip the pancake, swirl some oil, shake the pan so the oil reaches the bottom of the pancake. Using the spatula, gently but firmly press down pancake to make sure the bottom of the pancake is in contact with the hot pan. Fry for another 4-5 minutes. Carefully check to see if the shrimp and batter is cooked through. If it’s browning too quickly and pancake has not fully set, turn the heat to medium or slightly lower. Fry until it is cooked through.

9. Keep pancake in the oven at 200 F while you make the second batch.

10. Use a knife or a pizza cutter to slice the pancake. Serve immediately with dipping sauce.

Notes:

1. Thin green onions = each green onion stalk is very thin and has only one slim green stem. If those that you’ve purchased are the thicker kind with multiple green stems on each stalk, then decrease to 2-3 green onions in total.