Different Kinds of Korean Pancakes (Buchimgae)

What do you like to eat when it rains?

When I was in the Philippines, my Mom would make delicious champorado (chocolate rice porridge) orlugaw (congee or boiled rice porridge) to warm us up on a rainy day.

Here in South Korea, the most famous comfort food during the rainy season is 부침개 (buchimgae) or 전 (jeon), also known as Korean pancake or Korean pizza. Koreans eat it with 막걸리 (makgeolli) or rice wine.

Officially drunk with makgeolli^^

Last night, hubby and I went to a new restaurant in Janghyeon that serves buchimgae and makgeolli. These restaurants are called 부침개집 (buchimgae jib or buchimgae house).

We ordered 해물파전 (haemul pajeon), buchimgae with green onions and seafood, and of course, makgeolli. It was my first time to try home-made makgeolli. Not only was it tastier than the ones we usually buy in plastic bottles or cans, but it was also stronger in alcohol content. After my third bowl, I felt my head spinning. I don’t really drink. I just like the sweet taste of makgeolli. I couldn’t resist it every time my husband refilled my bowl.

The buchimgae we ordered was so good that we ate all of it right away! Since we still had makgeolli and hubby wanted to drink soju, we ordered another dish, 두부김치 (dubu kimchi or tofu kimchi). Dubu kimchi is not a kind of buchimgae, but most buchimgae houses include it in their menu.

There are many kinds of buchimgae. I have tried most of them. They are often served as 반찬(banchan or side dishes), 안주 (anju or food for drinking), appetizers or desserts.

Below is a list of this appetizing dish made with various ingredients such as meat, seafood and vegetables:

WITH MEAT

• Yukjeon (육전), made with sliced beef
• Wanjajeon (완자전) or donggeurang ttaeng (동그랑땡), small ball-shaped jeon made with minced beef, tofu, and vegetables

Hubby and I made our favorite jeon two years ago. We weren’t busy then, so we had a lot of time to cook together. The round ones are wanjajeon. The longer ones are called getip jeon. We also use minced beef for this kind of jeon, but the beef is wrapped in sesame leaves.

• Cheonyeopjeon (처녑전), made with part of an animal’s stomach (Yup, animal’s stomach, particularly that of a cow! ^^)
• Ganjeon (간전), made with beef liver

WITH SEAFOOD

• Saewoojeon (새우전), made with shrimp

• Daehajeon (대하전), made with prawns
• Guljeon (굴전), made with oysters

• Daegujeon (대구전), made with gray cod

• Mineojeon (민어전), made with croaker

WITH VEGETABLES

• Kimchijeon (김치전), made with kimchi (Every Korean household has kimchi in the fridge, so this has got to be the most common buchimgae.)

   

  Haemul kimchijeon (kimchijeon with seafood) from my favorite buchimgae house ^^

• Gamjajeon (감자전), made with mashed or ground potato

   

  My Omonim (mother-in-law) brought home a big box of potatoes, so I thought of making gamjajeon. I will share with you the recipe on my next post. ^^

• Hobakjeon (호박전), made with squash

• Pajeon (파전), made with green onions
• Buchujeon (부추전), made with leeks

• Gochujeon (고추전), made with chili peppers

• Gajijeon (가지전), made with eggplant

• Pyogojeon (표고전), shiitake mushrooms stuffed with beef
• Deodeokjeon (더덕전), made with lanceolata or deodeok in Korean
• Gosarijeon (고사리전), made with bracken

• Yeongeunjeon (연근전), made with lotus root

Sometimes meat, vegetables and seafood are combined to make buchimgae.

Other kinds of buchimgae are as follows:

• Dubujeon (두부전), made with tofu
• Bindaetteok (빈대떡), made with mung beans, vegetables, and meat or seafood
• Memiljeon (메밀전), made with buckwheat
• Hwajeon (화전), made with edible flowers like rose or azalea

This coming 추석 (Chuseok or Korean Thanksgiving Day), my family and I will be making different kinds of buchimgae as we do every year. Buchimgae is not only served with makgeolli or eaten as part of everyday meal. It is also prepared on important traditional ceremonies and feasts in South Korea. 

What is your favorite buchimgae? Do you like to eat it while drinking makgeolli? If you haven’t tried this dish yet, there might be one kind of buchimgae that will rock your palate. Among all the buchimgaementioned in this post, which one looks appetizing to you?

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