Fried Zucchini Fritter/Pancake

HO-BAK-JEON

호박전

Hobakjeon is a simple, delicious Korean side dish or banchan for an everyday meal. It’s a very common Korean side dish, served along with a variety of other vegetable accompaniments to a meal. In translation, hobak means zucchini and jeon means pancake. It may be called a “pancake” in English, but the taste will be a little different because it is not quite sweet.

Fresh, firm zucchinis are sliced then coated in all purpose flour and finally dipped in beaten egg, to be pan-fried with hot oil on both sides until it gets crispy and golden in color. Since most jeon dishes are kind of bland and the taste gets easily lost, it is usually accompanied by a dipping sauce usually comprised of soy sauce mixed in with vinegar, sliced hot chili peppers and chili pepper flakes (gochugaru). However, each hobakjeon pieces are also delicious when plain or even dipped with ketchup.