A delicious regional food from the Gyeongnam province in Korea is made with Napa cabbage. It is called “baechujeon” in Korean. Battered Napa cabbage is fried and eaten with a tasty dipping sauce. It is surprisingly delicious considering how easy it is to make. My husband was happy to find a new favorite food when I made it the other day.Try it someday.
Yield: 6 Pieces
Short Korean Lesson
- MoYu (모유) = Breast Milk
- BunYu (분유) = Powdered Formula
Video Instructions
Main Ingredients:
- 6 Napa Cabbage Leaves (6 oz)
- 1 Cup All-Purpose Flour
- 1¼ Cups Water
- ¼ tsp Salt
Sauce Ingredients:
- 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
- 2 Tbsp Green Onion
- 1 Tbsp Water
- 1 Tbsp Garlic
- 1 tsp Red Hot Pepper
- 1 tsp Sesame Seeds
- ¼ Generous tsp Vinegar
- ⅛ Generous tsp Sugar
Directions
Wash 6 Napa cabbage leaves. The cabbage has softer and lighter colored leaves near the center of the head. We need those leaves for this recipe.
The leaves need to stay flat to fry them. So, tap the thick and banded part of each leaf gently with the handle of a knife or some other cooking tool.
For finer batter texture, shift 1 cup of all-purpose flour. This step is optional. Add ¼ tsp of salt to the flour and mix it.
Add 1¼ cups of cold water and mix it until there are no lumps in the batter. It will be a very runny batter.
Cover both sides of each leaf with the batter. Pull it out and let it drip off for few seconds to remove excess batter.
Preheat a pan on medium-high with a generous amount of oil inside.
Place 2 battered leaves in the heated and oiled pan.
Meanwhile, finely chop 2 Tbsp worth of green onion. Slice 1 Tbsp worth of garlic and 1 tsp worth of red hot pepper thinly.
Mix all the ingredients for the sauce in a bowl: 2 Tbsp soy sauce, 2 Tbsp green onion, 1 Tbsp water, 1 Tbsp garlic, 1 tsp red hot pepper, 1 tsp sesame seeds, ¼ generous tsp vinegar, and ⅛ generous tsp sugar.
Fry them until both sides of the leaves become nicely golden brown. It will take about 10 minutes. If needed, add more oil to the pan to make them more crispy. Gently press each leaf with a spatula occasionally.
Serve it with sauce when it is still hot and crispy. If you cannot eat spicy food, you can skip the hot pepper in the sauce; however, I recommend the heat from the hot pepper for this food. Enjoy!
Leave a Reply