Korean Style Corn Pancakes
This is a recipe that I’ve had in my recipe box for a little while now. It’s was actually photocopied from some French magazine… I forget which… sorry!
I had made the pancakes once before, about a year ago, and I remembered really liking them. They are the very description of “it feels like there’s a party in my mouth and everyone’s been invited”.
Indeed, there sure is a lot going on in your mouth with every bite: first you get the doughy texture of the pancake together with the sweet crunchiness of the corn, then comes a nice zing from the green onions and, as a final note, a [not so] little kick of heat from the chili peppers.
Dip them in the sauce and you get to add yet another layer of taste and texture, with the tangy garlic and vinegar, salty soy sauce and nutty sesame seeds. I’m telling you, this is flavor and texture overload that you can hold at your fingertips.
Of course, the original recipe called for all purpose flour, which is what I had been using when I first made the recipe. Bust since I now refuse to use the whiter than white overprocessed stuff, I had to replace it with another kind of flour, one that actually adds to the nutritional value of the dish.
Since I found the pancakes to lack a bit in the protein department, (you know me and protein) I figured I’d try quinoa flour. That, I attempted a few months ago. It was a sad moment… what I would call an almost complete failure. While the pancakes looked like they wanted to stay together, they would in fact, as soon as you’d pick up a piece, completely crumble apart.
Shame! Plus, there was something with the texture of the quinoa flour that just didn’t work out. I remembered the original to be very chewy and doughy. The quinoa version was grainy and crumbly.
Allright, cross that one off the list.
This time, I tried making them with pastry whole wheat flour. The result was a lot better. The pancakes had the right consistency and texture. Good! 🙂 But that didn’t solve my protein problem. Bad. 🙁
This can only mean one thing: I will have to try making these pancakes again. Next time, I will try using chickpea flour. I have never worked with chickpea flour before, so I have no idea what to expect. Hopefully, it will be the happy medium that I am looking for.
They say third time’s the charm, don’t they?
Korean Style Corn Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1½ cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 2 cups ice cold water
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 2½ cups fresh, or frozen corn kernels
- 6 green onions, finely chopped
- 4 birds eye chilis, finely chopped
Sauce
- ¼ cup soy sauce, Japanese, or tamari
- 4 tsp rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp roasted sesame seeds
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
Instructions
- For the sauce, simply mix all the ingredients together. Set aside to marinate at room temperature while you prepare the pancakes.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, corn starch, salt and pepper. Add 2 cups ice cold water and mix until smooth and well incorporated. While whisking, add eggs mix until just incorporated, no more. Add corn, green onions and peppers. Again, stir lightly, just to combine.
- Over medium heat, heat a little bit of olive oil in a cast iron or non stick pan and pour half the batter. Spread to the edges of the pan. Cook for about 8 minutes, until the bottom is nice and golden and the pancake starts to set. Flip it over and continue cooking until the other side is golden, about 5-6 minutes.
- Slide into a plate and repeat process with rest of the batter.
- Cut each pancake into 8 wedges.
- Serve warm with dipping sauce and lots of sauteed vegetables.
- These pancakes are also delicious served cold and would make a great appetizer.
Nutrition
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18 Comments on “Korean Style Corn Pancakes”
Yummy! I love putting corn in fritter like things but I’ve never had it in a pancake like this. It looks so good, especially the sesame seeds around the outside. And the chilies sound good too 😀
The sesame seeds are from the dipping sauce… but you just gave me an idea. I think next time, I will sprinkle some sesame seeds on the pancake while it’s cooking. They should toast when I flip it around and add yet another layer of taste. Ooooh, I am so liking this. Thanks for the inspiration, Heidi. You seem to be inspring me quite a lot, lately! 😀
you might consider trying quinoa flour again but this time add a pinch (maybe 1/4 or 1/2 tsp) of xantham gum. i only use gluten-free flours which are usually pretty crumbly, and xantham gum saves me every time! another trick is to use a little honey–it might taste weird in these, and i definitely wouldn’t recommend it to *replace* xantham gum, but it’s worth a shot! =)
I have guar gum at home… do you think that could work? Not sure about the honey, I think it would add too much sweetness. The corn is already pretty sweet as it is and I think if I was to add honey, then I would also have to add more salt, and I would rather avoid that…
mouth watering!!! i have never had anything like this and looking forward to try! have had sweetcorn tuna crepes in Vietnam, but this looks better! thanks for sharing the recipe!
Pleasure is all mine! 🙂 I hope you like ’em!
hello, my name’s jenny and im a korean who enjoys healthy korean snacks 🙂
i often have this dish as my dinner and the recipe goes something like this (im a protein lover as well :D)
1egg, half tuna can, 1Tdiced onion, 1Tdiced red, green pepper, 1/4C crumbled hard tofu, 1/4C corn kernels (i use canned corn), salt, pepper
mix em all up and on a hot frying pan fry by spoonfuls. when they get crispy dip in sweet chili sauce, ketchup, teriyaki sauce or any sauce u prefer. it’s super delicious and healthy too!
Thanks for the recipe, Jenny. Sounds like some kind of omelet… I will have to give that a try someday! 🙂
These are so pretty and I love how you described the taste and textures! Chic pea flour sounds like a really good idea.
Sounds delicious and looks great too! My husband loves corn and i am pretty sure he will fall in love with these pancakes!
These look great – I love Korean style pancakes and I’m currently awash in fresh sweetcorn, so I think I’ll try these for dinner this week. As far as protien-y flours, you’ll probably find that without a binder like xanthum (I don’t know about guar, never used it), none of them will be glutenous enough to hold together. You could try mixing a protein-rich flour like quinoa or chickpea with rice flour, which is highly sticky.
Right! It’s a gluten (or lack of) issue… why didn’t I think of that? Thanks for enlightening me, Paige! Maybe if I added a couple of tablespoons of gluten flour, that would help… and replace the cornstarch with guar gum. Why do I get the feeling I will be trying this recipe a lot? 😉
Oh my gosh, this is genius – they look so good!
I love the whole grains in these and they just look utterly fantastic. Something even my picky toddler would eat…but only because it looks like pizza.
Speaking of quinoa flour failures, I recently tried to make bread with it (made my own from quinoa flakes), and man was it the densest, heaviest, shortest bread I have ever seen! My baby liked to chew on it, but I ended up feeding it to our chickens (who also loved it). The flavour was amazing, but it was just too dense to eat as bread. Too bad…
Note well taken! Do not use quinoa flour to make bread! 😀 As for these pancakes looking like pizza, I guess one could even add a little bit of cheese on top after flipping the pancakes. Should be delicious!
Amazing. So happy they are vegetarian.
Yah, this party in the mouth I’d definitely come to…looks gaaaahmazzzing.
Very nice. I’m kind of surprised you’re worried about the protein – 15 grams per serving plus incidental protein the soy sauce and sesame seeds. 3 meals like this and you hit your protein for the day. I don’t think you need to redo it at all!