Korean Radish Pancakes, or Mujeon

Korean radish pancakes are direct and savory. Enjoy the mellow and sweet taste of Korean radish with this recipe, but you can substitute with daikon radish, if you can’t find it. Serve the radish pancakes with soy lemon dipping sauce.

A forgotten Korean radish left in the refrigerator turned into these savory Korean radish pancakes (Mujeon, 무전). If you haven’t tasted Korean radish, you are missing out on a savory vegetable.

We found a piece of Korean radish in the back of the vegetables tray in our refrigerator. Interestingly, we didn’t even remember how long it had been sitting there. Don’t you love discovering things you didn’t expect when you clean the refrigerator?

It still looked decent although it didn’t have all its fresh glory. We thought of making Korean Mackerel and Radish Stew with this, but soon realized that we didn’t have any mackerel, not even a can. So that left us thinking of what we could do with this half-century old Korean radish.

For us, if we can’t think of any “Wow!” idea when it comes to cooking with vegetables, we usually make unfussy pancakes with them. This radish pancake is one of the savory Korean pancakes we like.

Can’t find the Korean radish? Use Daikon radish instead.

How the dish comes together

Peel the radish first and slice it thinly into disks. Then cut into thin matchsticks. About 1/8-inch would be the most ideal. For us slicing is like a healing moment. We love it.

Sprinkle a little salt and let them sit for 10 minutes.

The radish will look a little lifeless. Add some chopped green onion, a little corn starch and flour.

Add some water and crack an egg into the mixture until the better has a wet but not runny consistency.

Sometimes we like to add a few sliced jalapeño pieces into the batter. We enjoy a spicy kick.

Spread the batter as thin as you can and sprinkle a little love – the toasted sesame seeds! Cook 2-3 minutes.

Flip it over, and voila! The radish pancake is looking pretty. Cook the other side for another 2-3 minutes and it looks steady to enter our gastronomic system.

Dip your pancakes in a soy-lemon dipping sauce. We made about 6 pancakes and we ate all of them without thinking twice. Sharing was at not at the front of our mind at the moment.

If you have not tried Korean radish, this is a great recipe to start with. It’s unfussy and savory. We fyou have a ton of radish to use up, try Korean beef rice bowl with radish. It’s direct and comforting, great for weeknight dinner.

• Yield: 4
• Prep: 10 minutes
• Cook: 15 minutes
• Total: 25 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 small (about 1 lb, 450g) Korean radish (or daikon radish), peeled
• 1 green onion, finely chopped
• 1 jalopeño, seeded and sliced, optional
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 egg
• 3-4 tbsp water
• dash white pepper
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
• oil for frying

For soy lemon dipping sauce

• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Method

1. Slice the radish into 1/8-inch disks, then slice into thin sticks, about 1/8-inch.
2. Place radish sticks in a mixing bowl, add salt, and let it sit for 10 minutes.
3. Add green onion, jalopeño, flour, cornstarch, egg, and 3 tablespoon water. Mix well. If the batter seems to dry add more water. Adjust the amount of flour and water to your desired batter texture.
4. Heat 1-2 tablespoon of oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat, add 1/4 cup of radish batter onto the skillet and spread thinly. Sprinkle a little bit of toasted sesame seeds on top. Fry for 2-3 minutes until the bottom get golden brown. Flip and fry for another 2-3 minutes.
5. To make soy lemon dipping sauce, mix soy sauce and lemon juice in a small mixing bowl. Serve the pancakes warm with soy sauce lemon juice dipping sauce.