Chef Jeong-sun
Baechu-jeon (배추전, Napa Cabbage Pancake)
A Gyeongsang home pancake made from one whole napa cabbage leaf at a time, flattened at the rib, brushed in thin salted batter, and fried until sweet, tender, and quietly crisp at the edges.
Culinary Explorer
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Jang-tteok (Fermented Paste Pancake)
Created by
A Kaesong and Gyeongsang pancake seasoned from within, with fermented paste worked into the batter so each crisp-edged piece needs no dipping sauce.
Appetizers & Snacks
Korean
Comfort Food
Weeknight
Budget Friendly
15 min
Active Time
18 min cook•33 min total
Yield3 to 4 servings, about 10 small pancakes
Jang-tteok lives or dies in the batter. Most jeon ask for a dipping sauce at the table, but this one carries its seasoning inside: doenjang (fermented soybean paste), gochujang (fermented chili paste), or both, loosened into flour and water before the herbs go in. If you make the batter too thick, the center turns heavy. If you add too much paste, all you taste is salt and heat. Let it taste like itself.
My teacher made us mix this with a spoon first, then with chopsticks, so we could see when the flour stopped being lumpy without beating the life out of it. 눈동냥, 귀동냥. Borrowing with the eyes, borrowing with the ears. The batter should fall from the spoon in a thick ribbon, not sit there like mud. That is the measure to remember.
This is weeknight food, budget food, the kind of pancake that makes a bowl of rice and a few banchan feel like a table. Use garlic chives when they are tender in spring and early summer; use scallions, perilla leaves, or green chili when that is what your market gives you. The safe corner to cut is the herb. The corner you do not cut is the heat of the pan, because a pale jang-tteok tastes tired before it reaches the plate.
Jang-tteok is most often associated with regional home cooking in places such as Kaesong and Gyeongsang, where fermented pastes were worked directly into simple batters for a pancake that could be eaten without a separate soy dip. The name joins jang, the family of Korean fermented seasonings such as doenjang and gochujang, with tteok, here used in the older broad sense of a formed grain cake rather than a sweet rice cake. Its history belongs more to household pantries and local markets than to royal records, which is exactly why measured recipes matter.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
all-purpose flour
Quantity
1 cup
rice flour or potato starch
Quantity
2 tablespoons
cold water
Quantity
3/4 cup, plus 1 to 2 tablespoons if needed
doenjang (Korean fermented soybean paste)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
gochujang (Korean fermented chili paste)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
soy sauce
Quantity
1 teaspoon
toasted sesame oil
Quantity
1 teaspoon
egg
Quantity
1 small
beaten
garlic chives (buchu)
Quantity
1 cup
cut into 1-inch lengths
scallions
Quantity
2
thinly sliced on the diagonal
green chili
Quantity
1
seeded if desired and finely sliced
onion
Quantity
1/4 small
very thinly sliced
neutral oil
Quantity
3 tablespoons, divided
for pan-frying
toasted sesame seeds (optional)
Quantity
1 teaspoon
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| all-purpose flour | 1 cup |
| rice flour or potato starch | 2 tablespoons |
| cold water | 3/4 cup, plus 1 to 2 tablespoons if needed |
| doenjang (Korean fermented soybean paste) | 1 tablespoon |
| gochujang (Korean fermented chili paste) | 1 tablespoon |
| soy sauce | 1 teaspoon |
| toasted sesame oil | 1 teaspoon |
| eggbeaten | 1 small |
| garlic chives (buchu)cut into 1-inch lengths | 1 cup |
| scallionsthinly sliced on the diagonal | 2 |
| green chiliseeded if desired and finely sliced | 1 |
| onionvery thinly sliced | 1/4 small |
| neutral oilfor pan-frying | 3 tablespoons, divided |
| toasted sesame seeds (optional) | 1 teaspoon |
Equipment Needed
- •10-inch or 12-inch skillet
- •Mixing bowl
- •Whisk
- •Thin spatula
- •Wire rack or paper-lined plate
Instructions
- 1
Loosen the jang
In a medium bowl, whisk the doenjang, gochujang, soy sauce, sesame oil, and 3/4 cup cold water until the pastes dissolve. Do this before the flour goes in, because lumps of paste in the finished pancake give you salty bites and bland bites. The water should turn rusty brown and even.
- 2
Make the batter
Add the flour, rice flour or potato starch, and beaten egg. Stir just until no dry pockets remain. The batter should fall from a spoon in a thick ribbon. If it drops in clumps, add cold water 1 tablespoon at a time, up to 2 tablespoons. Thin batter fries crisp; heavy batter turns pasty in the center.
Rice flour gives a cleaner edge, while potato starch gives a slightly chewier bite. Either is better than flour alone for this pancake. - 3
Fold in herbs
Fold in the garlic chives, scallions, green chili, and onion. Do not crush them. The herbs should be coated, not buried. If your doenjang is very salty, taste a tiny smear of batter before adding more chili or soy; the jang is already doing the seasoning.
- 4
Heat the pan
Set a wide skillet over medium-high heat and add 1 tablespoon oil. Wait until the oil thins and moves easily across the pan. This pancake needs a confident first contact with heat, or the batter drinks the oil and goes soft.
- 5
Fry small pancakes
Spoon 2 tablespoons batter per pancake into the pan and spread each one to about 3 inches wide. Fry 2 to 3 minutes, until the edges set and the underside is deep golden brown. Flip once and fry 2 minutes more. Work in batches, adding more oil as needed. Small pancakes cook through before the paste in the batter darkens too far.
- 6
Drain and serve
Move the pancakes to a rack or a paper-lined plate and scatter sesame seeds over them if using. Serve warm or at room temperature, without dipping sauce. That is the point of jang-tteok: the seasoning is already inside.
Chef Tips
- •Use a doenjang you like enough to eat in soup. A harsh, overly salty paste will become harsher when fried, so start with 1 tablespoon and do not add more until you know your jar.
- •Garlic chives are best in spring and early summer. In winter, scallions and a few shredded perilla leaves make a good table, but keep the total greens to about 1 1/2 cups so the batter still holds.
- •Do not make one large pancake unless your pan and turning hand are steady. Small jang-tteok brown faster, flip cleanly, and keep the center from turning heavy.
Advance Preparation
- •The vegetables can be cut up to 1 day ahead and kept wrapped in the refrigerator. Dry them well before mixing, because wet herbs loosen the batter unevenly.
- •The batter is best fried within 30 minutes of mixing. If it sits longer, the herbs weep and the flour thickens, so loosen it with 1 tablespoon cold water before frying.
- •Cooked jang-tteok can be refrigerated for 2 days. Reheat in a dry skillet over medium heat until the edges crisp again; the microwave makes them soft.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 125g)
Calories
275 calories
Total Fat
14 g
Saturated Fat
2 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
12 g
Cholesterol
35 mg
Sodium
400 mg
Total Carbohydrates
32 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
2 g
Protein
6 g
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