Kimchijeon - How To Cook Kimchi Jeon
One afternoon a few months ago, I cooked kimchijeon by myself for the first time of my life. I longed so much for any Korean food but didn’t have energy or will power to take a 30 minute drive to Koreatown in Los Angeles.
So I started to make kimchi jeon* with whatever I could find from the refrigerator. Luckily I had most ingredients for kimchijeon: jeon flour**, an egg, several spring onions and some sour kimchi.
Here are the basic ingredients:
plain flour or jeon flour(buchim garu)
kimchi
kimchi gukmul (kimchi water)***
water
egg
salt
Good to have:
onions
green onions
shrimps
Jeon flour (jeon mix, buchim garu) already includes eggs and onions. When I cook with jeon flour, I don’t add eggs, but I still add other vegetables such as onions, green onions or mushrooms. (I love mushrooms!)
It’s good to measure how much to add for each ingredient, but kimchi jeon is a kind of recipe that doesn’t need extreme measurements. My mom never measures for jeon dishes, and has never failed in making them delicious. With strong urge to eat ASAP, I usually don’t spend time in measuring. Just “eyeballing” works fine for me.
In case you want to measure, it’s recommended to mix 1 cup of flour with 2/3 cup of water and an egg. Then add a half cup of chopped kimchi and a few spoons of kimchi gukmul. The amount of chopped kimchi and kimchi gukmul can be very different person by person.
How to make kimchi jeon:
1. Chop kimchi, onions and other vegetables you want to mix.
2. In a big bowl, mix chopped kimchi and vegetables, flour and an egg. You may want to add some salt. You won’t need to add an egg or salt when you use jeon flour. Add water and mix them well. The mix shouldn’t be too watery or too thick, obviously.
3. Heat the pan and add enough oil. When the oil gets hot, scoop the mix and spread it on the pan. Don’t make the spread too thick. Personally, I like thinner jeon.
4. Cook both sides until it turns nice yellowish orange.
- Chopped kimchi
- Chopped vegetables
- Add water to flour
- Mixing all ingredients
- Spread the mix on the pan
It’s popular among Koreans to add chopped shrimps or even chopped squids for eccentric taste. Some Koreans also mix jeon flour with frying flour (another premix made for frying) 2:1 or 3:1 ratio to make it crisper.
If kimchi itself is too spicy for you, you can slightly rinse it first. Or add more onions to balance it out.
Jeon* (전, also spelled jun): Korean pancake-like dish, usually served as banchan (side dishes) or anju (side dishes for alcoholic drinks). It’s also known as jjijim (찌짐) or buchimgae. Kimchi jeon, pa jeon, haemul pa jun are popular.
Jeon flour** (buchim garu): Premixed flour with other ingredients, mostly vegetables, which is specifically made to cook jeon dishes. Definitely it’s a Korean thing, or a marketing thing. Since I don’t trust my cooking “talents” or I’m simply lazy, I buy whatever they advertise for better taste.
- Jeon Flour (Buchimgaru)
Kimchi gukmul***: Water that kimchee generates as it gets fermented. I guess we can call it kimchi water.
The tradition sounds wonderful’ I would like to try the dish’ I wonder if they have that flour at Bobs Red Mill? We have one here in Portland but I am not sure if they have other warehouses. It really is a fantastic place. Thank you.
Thanks for visiting. I think they might have it if they carry other Korean groceries.
You can try this dish with regular wheat flour, too. Just add some chopped onions, garlic or garlic powder, salt and maybe a little bit of sugar if you like. Hope this helps!