Korean kimchi pancake (pajun in Korean) is one of my favorite foods. I chose to book review No Kimchi for Me! by Aram Kim because it included a recipe. I don’t cook, but I couldn’t resist trying out the simple Korean recipe.

This was an easy recipe and perfect for kids. The measurements are in whole numbers, with only 6 ingredients and only 4 cooking steps.

I had minor hiccups through no fault of the recipe and entirely because of my lack of any cooking sense. Though I’ve cooked pajun many times with my relatives, this was my first time as head chef. Fortunately, my daughter and her sabacca (dog in Russian) were there to assist in preventing any real damage. 

My story is for your benefit! Not that a rational cook would go through this, but it’s at least entertaining, if not a little informative.

Lesson #1: Quality Kimchi Makes for Quality Kimchi Pancake

I mostly had all the ingredients in my kitchen. However, I was low on kimchi. There were only a couple of servings left in my kimchi jar. Luckily, I had leftover kimchi from a take-out order at my local Korean restaurant. 

I had enough kimchi to make half the recipe which was fine for me. I wasn’t confident my first batch would taste good.

First, I cut the kimchi into tiny pieces. I didn’t want huge chunks of kimchi in my pancake. Also, I rationalized smaller pieces of the raw vegetable would cook through faster.

I put the kimchi in a mixing bowl. I added in all the kimchi juice from the jar and take-out. I figured the added juices would accentuate the kimchi flavors.

I should mention I added two different kinds of kimchi. My kimchi jar had baechu (Napa cabbage kimchi), and the restaurant leftovers were kkakdugi (radish kimchi).

Baechu and kkakdugi are both kimchis; I assumed the flavors would be the same. I thought mixing would be OK. (Spoiler: It was not OK.) Anyway, I didn’t have a choice; it’s all I had. Rather, I was too lazy to go to the grocery store.

Lesson #2: In Altering Recipe Quantities, Double-Check Your Math

Next, I added the rest of the ingredients. Easy peasy. There wasn’t any complicated math in cutting the recipe in half. No fractions! Whole numbers divided by 2.

I mixed everything into a batter. I thought it looked pretty good. The batter was more watery than my family’s batter. Probably from the kimchi juice I added? I figured the access water would evaporate in the frying pan.

Now I was stuck. I had no idea how to get the batter onto the pan to make circle pancakes. I was about to cover the whole surface of the pan when sabacca told me to use a ladle. Ah! Smart. Smaller pancakes would be easier to flip.

I slowly made my first pancake. It looked good!

The first one burnt a bit and was a little gooey inside. Why? Did the extra water make that much of a difference? I had the temperature too high?

ARGH! I realized I didn’t halve the egg. I cut the recipe in half, but I added a whole egg instead of half.

Sigh. I was too lazy to start over. I decided to keep going. I lowered the temperature and left it on the pan for a little longer.

Lesson #3: Korean Recipes (Probably like Most Recipes) Cannot Be Rushed

After a couple more, I got the hang of making the shape. I was getting impatient, though, so I added more pancakes to the pan at a time.

Eventually, I finished the batter! I was SO happy I only did half. Usually, Korean pancake has a nice crispy edge, which I wasn’t able to achieve. These were soft. Due to my impatience, I cannot guarantee it cooked through properly. Oh, and maybe because of the extra egg and kimchi juice.

Sigh.

Lesson #4: Presentation Does Not Overcome Taste

How did they taste? Well. The texture wasn’t exactly as it was supposed to be. Also, it turns out, using two different kimchis does matter. The radish didn’t cook as thoroughly as the softer cabbage. Also, pajun had two distinct flavors that didn’t blend at all.

Oh well. At least my plate is cool.

How to Get this Fun, Easy Korean Recipe!

We did have fun, but I probably won’t attempt this again. Luckily, I can easily buy pajun from local grocery stores and restaurants. I’ll leave it to the experts.

I got the full recipe from Jama’s Alphabet Soup. The blog post is a wonderful interview with Aram Kim, who shares early sketches of her book and pictures of her family and workplace. Jama also shares her first (and relatively very successful) attempt at making the recipe. Hers looked delicious!

Related Titles

My story was inspired by No Kimchi for Me! by Aram Kim, part of the Book List “About Korean-American Girls.” Check my other book reviews:

• • • The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi
    • Danbi Leads the School Parade by Anna Kim
    • Stand Up, Yumi Chung! by Jessica Kim