KOREAN SEAFOOD AND GREEN ONION PANCAKES

Ingredients

• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1 1/8 tsp fine salt
• 1 1/8 tsp garlic powder
• 1 1/8 tsp onion powder
• 1 cup water , icy cold or quality sparkling water
• 12 green onion  tops (green part), cleaned and cut lengthways to fit your skillet
• 100 g calamari (3.5 ounces), cleaned and cut into little finger sized pieces
• 100 g prawns (3.5 ounces), cleaned and cut into smaller pieces
• A few sprinkles ground black peppers , to marinate seafood
• 1 egg , beaten
• 1 red chili (optional), thinly diagonally sliced
• 6 Tbsp cooking oil (approx. 3 Tbsp per pancake), I used rice bran oil

Instructions

1. Prepare a medium size bowl and add flour, cornstarch, sea salt, garlic powder, onion powder and the icy cold water. Whisk it well. Transfer the pancake batter into a measuring jug (for easier pouring).
2. Preheat the frying pan on high heat until the bottom of the pan is well heated. Add cooking oil (approx. 3 Tbsp) and ensure the oil is spread all the way around the pan. (Watch out for oil splash.)
3. Wait until the temperature of the oil is ready to cook (about 1 minute). To check, drop a bit of pancake batter into the pan. If it sizzles, it is ready. Reduce the heat to medium high heat. Pour out the pancake batter (from step 1, use just less than half a cup) and spread it evenly and thinly around the pan.
4. Place 6 green onion tops on the pancake batter parallel to each other and pour out a little bit of the pancake batter onto and between the green onions, filling the gaps. Reduce the heat to medium.
5. Place some calamari, prawns and red chilies (optional) sparingly on top of the green onions.
6. Use a spoon to drizzle half of the beaten egg over the top of pancake. While cooking, move the pancake in a circular motion from time to time, so the pancake doesn’t get stuck to the pan.
7. Turn the pancake over when you see the top of the pancake partially cooked. (This makes it easy to turn the pancake. It takes around 4 minutes). Add more cooking oil around the edges of the pancake circle if necessary to release. Press the pancake with the spatula a couple of times to sizzle and make it crispy. Cook for another 3 to 4 minutes. Turn the heat off and transfer onto a plate or a cutting board.
8. Repeat step 2 to 7 for the remainder batter to use up the ingredients.
9. Slice the pancake into bite size pieces. Serve it with Korean pancake sauce.

Notes

1. This recipe is made from scratch using plain flour and other seasonings. If you choose to use Korean pancake mix (pre-mix) instead, omit the flour, cornstarch, salt, garlic powder and onion powder.
2. 2 pancakes will be enough for 4 servings as an appetizer.
3. 1 cup = 250 ml, 1 Tbsp = 15 ml