Korean Zucchini Buchimgae (호박부침개)

Koreans like to eat these 부침개 (Buchimgae) on rainy days. Why? I'm not sure. But whenever rainy season hit in Korea, my mom would make a lot of different kinds of Buchimgae. You can make Buchimgae using variety of ingredients - usually some type of vegetables such as zucchini, kimchi, potatoes, or they also use seafood such as shrimp. All of them are very tasty.

Koreans eat Buchimgae as an appitizer or as a snack. You can eat it plain or with a spicy soy sauce dipping sauce. It is rather easy to make. When mixing the ingredients, you may choose to pour as little as water if you like thick consistency. I like my batter thinner so I used about 3/4-1 cup water. But the choice is yours. Some like it thicker, some like it thinner like me. If you have kimchi at home, pour some kimchi juice in the batter. It will give you a nice flavor to the Buchimgae.

Korean Zucchini Buchimgae (호박부침개)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1 zucchini, thinly sliced in strips or diced small
1/2 serano chili, seeded and diced small (optional - this makes the Buchimgae a bit spicy but if you like it spicy, definitely add some)
1 cup flour
3/4 cup water (more or less according to your likeness)
1 tablespoon juice from Kimchi (optional)
pinch of salt
Oil
Sesame seeds (optional)

Directions:

In a medium bowl, add the ingredients except oil and sesame seeds and mix well with a spoon or a rubber spatula.

Heat oil over medium heat and drop 1/2 cup full batter onto the pan. Spread it thin using a spatula. Cook about 1-2 minutes each side or until each side is golden brown. Repeat until you have used all the batter.

Make dipping sauce. This is what I usually do for my dipping sauce.

2 tablespoons soy sauce
little drop of sesame oil
little pinch of cayenne and sesame seeds

Mix the ingredients well and serve with Buchimgae.

Sook the Cook