Buchujeon.

The chef's confession: even her picky kid who hated chives ate this. The trick is two-fold — a spoon of corn starch in the batter for crisp, and the lazier you mix it, the better it tastes. Don't whisk smooth. Just fold a few times and pour.

High heat. Lots of oil. The pancake should hiss when it hits the pan.

Ingredients

The batter (½·2·1)

• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp corn starch (or potato starch — the crisp trick)
• 1 cup cold water
• 1 tbsp 참치액 (Korean tuna-extract sauce — see sub below)

The fillings

• 1 big handful 부추 (garlic chives, ~150g — New Asia), cut into 5cm lengths
• 1 big handful peeled shrimp (~150g), roughly chopped
• Pinch of salt
• Neutral oil for frying (generous — don't be shy)

Optional dipping sauce

• 2 tbsp soy sauce + 1 tbsp rice vinegar + ½ tsp gochugaru + a few drops sesame oil

Method

1. Whisk batter base. In a bowl, combine flour, starch, water, and 참치액. Whisk just until lumpy-smooth — don't go further.
2. Fold in fillings. Add chives and shrimp. Fold gently — 4 or 5 turns max. Lazy mixing = crisp pancake.
3. Heat the pan hard. Heavy skillet, high heat, generous neutral oil (3–4 tbsp). Wait for the oil to shimmer.
4. Pour and spread thin. Ladle batter in, spread to a thin even round. Don't crowd.
5. Don't touch it. Let it sizzle 3–4 minutes until the edges turn crispy lace-brown. Flip once. Press lightly with the spatula. 2–3 more minutes on the other side.
6. Slide onto a plate. Cut into wedges with kitchen scissors. Serve immediately with dipping sauce.

Tip · the 참치액 sub

참치액 is Korean tuna-extract liquid seasoning — deep umami, clean salt. Yumi Hana stocks it (look for 청정원 or 햇살담은). No 참치액? Substitute: 1 tsp fish sauce + ½ tsp dashi powder + a pinch of sugar. Close enough.

Tip · why the starch

The 2 tbsp of starch is the difference between "soft pancake" and "shatter-crisp pancake." Wheat flour alone gets chewy as it cools. Starch keeps the edges shattering even after 10 minutes on the plate.

Tip · the lazy-mix rule

Korean jeon are the opposite of crepes. Lumps are good. Visible streaks of dry flour are good. Over-whisking develops gluten → tough pancake. Fold like you mean to stop halfway.

Tip · what to serve with it

A small bowl of the dipping sauce + cold makgeolli (Korean rice wine, if you have it). Classic rainy-day combo in Korea — 비 오는 날 막걸리에 부추전.