The land of Korea is almost 70% hills and mountains, so it is only natural that very many Koreans enjoy hiking in their free time. Growing up in Seoul, I used to go up hiking into the small hills or mountains around Seoul with my parents. Although I am not necessarily athletic and didn’t necessarily love the hard work of hiking itself :P, I really miss going out to the mountains to enjoy mountain food. Most Korean mountain food is normally vegan, so apart from being delicious, that’s another reason for us to love it.
Despite Koreans love for hiking, you’ll hear many Koreans joke about how hiking isn’t really about hiking itself — it’s really all about the mountain food, such as namul dishes, pancakes, acorn jelly, and rice wines that go with the mountain food (makgeoli or dongdongju). When Bill and I visited Gyeongju, one of Bill’s favorite memories was eating at the mountain food restaurant right under the beautiful Bulguksa temple. I remember getting some fresh namul dishes along with some pancakes. So yum.
Anyway, one my of my very favorite mountain foods is Gamja-jun (감자전) – potato pancakes. It is such a simple flavor, and yet sooo good. You dip potato pancakes in a dipping sauce made of soy sauce, vinegar, gochugaru, sesame seeds, and green onions (or white onions). Koreans eat a lot of pancakes when it rains too; you’ll see a ton of families cooking onion pancakes or potato pancakes when it rains in Korea. Neighbors often get together to enjoy pancakes when it rains as well.
It rained in the late afternoon today here in Indiana (rain that was much needed!), and I felt like it would be so nice to go hiking in one of the mountains in Seoul, and get some mountain food. I miss that so much. So I made Gamja-jun! Chewy, crispy, crunchy and yummy gamma-jun – here you go! 😉
Gamja-jun (Korean Potato Pancakes) Recipe!
Pancake Ingredients:
5 big potatoes
several pinches of salt
some chopped veggies (such as chives, zucchini, pepper, green onions, etc.)
1 tbs of potato starch (optional)
Sauce Ingredients:
soy sauce
vinegar
pinch of gochugaru
sesame seeds (add sesame oil if you’d like as well)
chopped green or white onions
Directions:
1. Add the sauce ingredients together and set aside.
2. Peel the potatoes and cut them into cubes. Matchstick chop the veggies and set in a separate bowl.
3. Put the potato cubes into a food processor and process it. If you want it to be chewy and soft, thoroughly process it so it’s very soft. If you want it to have some more texture, grind it so it’s less soft.But either way, it has to be a pretty creamy texture when you grind it.
4. Put it in a strainer/cheese cloth so the liquid comes out. I like to use a cheese cloth because it’s just a lot faster that way. The less watery it is, the crunchier it will be; if you leave some liquid, it will be chewier and softer!
5. Once you let the liquid sit for a couple of minutes, you’ll find that some potato starch has settled at the bottom of the bowl. You want to throw out the water and then mix the settled potato starch back into your batter (optional: you can add a spoonful of packaged potato starch if you’d like your pancake to have a chewier texture).
6. Add the matchstick veggies and several pinches of salt to the batter.
7. Heat your pan on medium-high heat, add a good amount of vegetable oil to your pan to cover the bottom of the pan and use a spoon to scoop in either several small circles of pancake batter or a single large pancake. Cook the pancake until the bottom is browned and then flip and cook the other side. You want your pancakes to be golden yellow or brown so they are crispy.
8. Serve with the sauce (and some makgeoli or dongdongju if you are having it as drinking food).Yum… so easy and so good. Enjoy!
Here we have processed the potatoes so the gamja-jun will be softer.
Strain the potatoes in a cheese cloth to get out the water. Leave more water in for a chewier pancake, less for a crunchier pancake.
Add salt and whatever vegetables you are using and mix. I used Korean zuchhini and green onions today.
Add the batter to a heated pan with oil. You can make small or large pancakes.
Flip the pancakes when they have browned on the bottom.
When both sides are golden brown, they are ready to eat. Yumm….
Serve with the dipping sauce.
Mmm……, so yummy and satisfying – crispy and chewy gamja-jun on a rainy day (with a bowl of makgeoli!) 😛
