Hobak-jeon (Zucchini Jeon)

Hobak-jeon lives or dies before it reaches the pan. Slice the zucchini evenly, salt it lightly, and blot it well. If you skip that, the flour slides off, the egg turns patchy, and the zucchini steams itself soft. My teacher would tap one round with her chopstick and know whether the cook had been patient. 눈동냥, 귀동냥. Borrowing with the eyes, borrowing with the ears.

This is the gentlest jeon on a holiday platter, the one that sits beside fish jeon, meat patties, and green onion pancakes without raising its voice. It also belongs to an ordinary dinner with rice and a small bowl of soy-vinegar dipping sauce. Use young Korean squash, aehobak (애호박), if your market has it. Its flesh is tender and a little sweet. A firm small zucchini will do, but choose one no wider than 5 cm so the rounds cook through before the egg browns too far.

The coating is not batter. It is a thin dusting of flour and a clean coat of egg, just enough to hold the vegetable and give it a golden face. Keep the heat at medium-low, wipe the pan between batches if browned egg gathers, and salt with restraint. Let it taste like itself. A plate of hobak-jeon should remind you that quiet food still asks for careful hands.