Korean Vegetable Pancake with a Chilli Crisp Egg | One Pot One Portion
This vegetable pancake has its origin in Korea (where they’re known as yachaejeon) and is the perfect dish to use up odds and ends of any vegetables you have lying around. Cabbage, spring onions, carrots and courgettes work really well and provide a nice balance of moisture and crunch, but peppers, potatoes, mushrooms or leafy greens are good alternatives. Depending on the vegetables you use, you may need more or less water to make the light batter so adjust as necessary.
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About this dish
One of the struggles of cooking for one is minimising food waste. It can be hard to buy ingredients in single servings and it's not uncommon to be left with fresh ingredients like vegetables that you don't know what to do with. This recipe is the perfect way to use up leftover vegetables. This is my one pot one portion Korean vegetable pancake with a crispy chilli oil-fried egg. Inspired by yachaejeon, these vegetable pancakes are a great weeknight meal when you're not sure what to cook but want something easy and nutritious.
This recipe is already vegetarian, and I've provided details below for how to make it vegan and gluten-free.
If you like this recipe you might also like my Leftover Vegetable Bake with a Crispy Crumb Top, my Single Serve Kale, Salmon & Sweet Potato Salad or my Chicken Bánh Mì Smash Burger Taco.
Why you want to make this recipe
25 minute meal
This recipe only takes about 25 minutes. There's a little bit of prep in terms of chopping the vegetables but that's another bonus to cooking for one- you only need to chop enough veg for one person and not a whole family! Other than that, it cooks in about 10 minutes and the pancakes cools down and crisps up while you fry the egg.
Minimises Food Waste
One of the benefits of this recipe is that you can use any leftover vegetables you have in your fridge or cupboard. It's a very versatile recipe so is adaptable to your preferences and to what you have in. The only thing you might have to change is the quantity of water, using more or less depending on how watery the vegetables are (e.g you'll have to use less water if you're using vegetables like courgette/zucchini than if you were using carrots, as they have a higher water content)
One Pot Recipe
As with all of my recipes, this only needs one pot or one pan so there are minimal dishes, which makes every meal time easier and more enjoyable.
Single-Serve
Again, as always, this recipe is for single-serve tacos so you can make this just for yourself! Though it would be very easy to scale up to serve multiple people if needed
Ingredients and Tools
Vegetables
- You can adapt this recipe based on the vegetables you have in, making it very versatile. My favourite are carrot, zucchini, scallions and cabbage.
Crispy Chilli Oil
- A hero ingredient to keep in your cupboard, crispy chilli oil adds so much flavour to any dish.
Fried Egg
- The fried egg adds protein to the dish and frying it in chilli oil gives a little spice that pairs perfectly with the crispy and soft pancake.
Pancake Dipping Sauce
- I think this pancake works well with a salty and slightly vinegary dipping sauce. My favourite is a mix of soy sauce and rice wine vinegar, but you could use sriracha, kewpie mayo or sweet chilli sauce.
Step by step instructions
Add the vegetables to a bowl along with the flour, sesame seeds, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, salt and the water.
Grab a large frying pan and add the sesame oil. Press it down into a flat layer in the pan and let it cook for 5 minutes on one side.
After 5 minutes, it should be golden brown and crisp on the bottom, so take a spatula and quickly but confidently flip the pancake over.
Meanwhile, add the chilli oil to the pan and crack the egg on top. You can finish this with sriracha or sweet chilli sauce, or make a dipping sauce with equal parts of soy sauce and rice wine vinegar.
Variations, substitutions or modifications
You could swap ground chicken for ground pork.
Gluten-Free: To make this gluten-free, use gluten-free tortillas or corn tacos. Replace the maggi seasoning for tamari for a similar umami flavour.
Vegan:
FAQs
What is a Korean Vegetable Pancake?
- Yachaejeon is a Korean Vegetable Pancake. It's made of a mixture of vegetables, often zucchini, scallions, cabbage, carrot and/or sweet potato. The vegetables are mixed with flour, water to create a light batter then friend on each side in a pan. The result is a crispy exterior with a slighlty soft inside. It's completely addictive and delicious with a Korean vegetable pancake dipping sauce.
What is Crispy Chilli Oil?
- Crispy Chilli Oil is a chilli oil often made with chilli flakes, aromatics like garlic, ginger and scallions. It's spicy, fragrant and the perfect addition to so many noodle, rice, meat or vegetable dishes. The spice level varies depending on the brand that you buy, but it's also very easy to make yourself if you want to control the spice level and flavour yourself.
Can I make a double portion?
- You can easily double up this single-serve recipe just by doubling the ingredients.
If you like this recipe you might also like my Leftover Vegetable Bake with a Crispy Crumb Top, my Single Serve Kale, Salmon & Sweet Potato Salad or my Chicken Bánh Mì Smash Burger Taco.
Ingredients
- 200g vegetables (e.g. 50g carrot, 50g spring onion, 50g cabbage, 50g courgette), sliced into matchstick-sized pieces
- 60g plain flour
- 2 tsp sesame seeds
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp rice wine vinegar
- big pinch of salt
- at least 60g water
- 2 tbsp sesame oil
- 2 tsp chilli oil
- 1 egg
To serve:
- sriracha, sweet chilli sauce or soy sauce and rice wine vinegar mix
Instructions
- Add the vegetables to a bowl along with the flour, sesame seeds, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, salt and the water.
- Stir this all together until well combined.
- You are looking for every piece of vegetable to be lightly coated in batter, so if any are looking a bit dry you can add some more water. This will depend on the vegetables you use and how much moisture they have.
- Grab a large frying pan and add the sesame oil.
- Let this heat gently over a medium heat, then add in the vegetable mixture.
- Press it down into a flat layer in the pan and let it cook for 5 minutes on one side.
- After 5 minutes, it should be golden brown and crisp on the bottom, so take a spatula and quickly but confidently flip the pancake over.
- Cook for another 5 minutes on the other side until it’s also golden and crisp.
- Once cooked, tip or flip the pancake onto a plate and put the frying pan back on the heat. The pancake will crisp slightly as it cools.
- Meanwhile, add the chilli oil to the pan and crack the egg on top.
- Fry for a few minutes until cooked to your liking, then place on top of the pancake.
- You can finish this with sriracha or sweet chilli sauce, or make a dipping sauce with equal parts of soy sauce and rice wine vinegar.
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Vegetable Pancake with a Chilli Crisp Egg
This vegetable pancake has its origin in Korea (where they’re known as yachaejeon) and is the perfect dish to use up odds and ends of any vegetables you have lying around. Cabbage, spring onions, carrots and courgettes work really well and provide a nice balance of moisture and crunch, but peppers, potatoes, mushrooms or leafy greens are good alternatives. Depending on the vegetables you use, you may need more or less water to make the light batter so adjust as necessary.
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If you love eating good home cooked food but can't be bothered to cook just for yourself, then this is the book for you. Using ingredients that are easy to find, then mixing, cooking and eating from the same pan or dish means a minimum of washing up. Every recipe I have tried so far has been delicious and have all turned out well which isn't always the case with many cookery books. Definitely recommend!
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Bought this for my sister who cooks for one. She absolutely loved it finding it inspiring! So many great recipes to motivate and keep you cooking when it's just you eating!
Follow Eleanor on socials and knew I NEEDED this book immediately! SO glad I paid extra and had it shipped from the UK (to US). Eleanor's voice is loud and clear in every recipe. The pictures are beautiful, the instructions are perfectly clear, and I want to make EVERYTHING. I cannot recommend this book enough!
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Great present! Bought this for my sister who cooks for one. She absolutely loved it finding it inspiring! So many great recipes to motivate and keep you cooking when it's just you eating!
Great present! Bought this for my sister who cooks for one. She absolutely loved it finding it inspiring! So many great recipes to motivate and keep you cooking when it's just you
Follow Eleanor on socials and knew I NEEDED this book immediately! SO glad I paid extra and had it shipped from the UK (to US). Eleanor's voice is loud and clear in every recipe. The pictures are beautiful, the instructions are perfectly clear, and I want to make EVERYTHING. I cannot recommend this book enough!
This recipe book is stunning and fulfils its role brilliantly in catering for individuals who want to eat delicious meals, but don't want to prepare family sized portions or devote their entire evening to cooking. Who'd believe you could make an entire roast for one person and only use one pan in the process! She is a genius and I couldn't recommend this book any more highly.
One of the best things about the book is that all the recipes are actually cooked in one pot - in a lot of other so-called books you still have to make your side dish in a separate pot. With these recipes, even if they include rice or pasta, it's all cooked together. No mountains of washing up!
This is the book I've been waiting for! I (very happily!) live alone, love to cook and read cookery books, but every recipe is for two people or more. This gorgeous book contains recipes perfectly proportioned for one person (and I'm always a very hungry one person!) which ensures more variety, less food waste, and pure, gluttonous joy.
It's so nice to finally have a recipe book that I can go to if I want a quick easy meal with minimal cleaning up required! Everything l've tried so far is delicious. And I salivate at the thought of everything in there!
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This book is like having all your favourite foods in one place with the added bonus of an old friend showing you the ropes. Congratulations Eleanor when can I pre-order the next one?