Gujeolpan

Eight fillings around a stack of paper-thin pancakes, every filling cut to the same length so the roll closes.

Beef, Shellfish, Egg. Not vegetarian — contains beef, shellfish.

Ingredients

For the pancakes

• 150 g plain flour
• 250 ml water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• oil, for the pan

The eight fillings

• 150 g beef sirloin, in fine strips
• 150 g prawns, sliced lengthways
• 3 eggs, separated, as two thin omelettes
• 150 g shiitake mushrooms, in fine strips
• 1 cucumber, in fine matchsticks
• 1 carrot, in fine matchsticks
• 100 g Korean radish, in fine matchsticks
• 50 g beansprouts, blanched
• sesame oil, soy sauce, salt

For the dip

• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon mustard
• pine nuts, crushed

Method

1. EVERY FILLING IS CUT TO THE SAME LENGTH, five centimetres, and that is the only rule that matters. The whole dish is a thin pancake laid flat, a pinch of three or four fillings laid across it, and the pancake rolled and eaten in one. If one filling is longer than the others it sticks out of the end, catches on the next thing and drags the roll open; if one is much shorter it is lost in the middle. Nine small dishes, everything five centimetres.
2. THE PANCAKES ARE PAPER THIN AND THERE IS NO EGG IN THEM. Flour, water and salt only, in a very thin batter, swirled into a dry-ish pan and cooked barely thirty seconds a side until set but still pale and pliable. Egg or milk makes them rich and they crack when rolled; browned, they snap.
3. THEY ARE STACKED WITH A SQUARE OF GREASEPROOF BETWEEN EACH. Stacked bare they weld together into a single disc and tear as they are separated at the table.
4. AND THEY ARE KEPT UNDER A DAMP CLOTH. They dry out in minutes and a dry pancake will not roll.
5. EACH FILLING IS COOKED AND SEASONED SEPARATELY, as with the bibimbap and japchae on this site -- eight small pans' worth, each with its own treatment. This is the longest preparation in the collection and most of it is knifework rather than cooking.
6. THE WET FILLINGS ARE SQUEEZED AND THE CUCUMBER IS SALTED AND DRAINED. Any water at all runs into the pancake and tears it as it is rolled.
7. Pancakes: flour, water and salt whisked to a very thin batter, sieved, and rested 20 minutes.
8. Cooked in a lightly oiled pan, a small ladle swirled very thin, 30 seconds a side, pale. Stacked with greaseproof between each and kept under a damp cloth.
9. Cucumber cut into 5 cm matchsticks, salted 10 minutes, SQUEEZED DRY, and fried 30 seconds.
10. Carrot and radish cut the same length and fried separately with a pinch of salt.
11. Mushrooms in fine strips, fried with a splash of soy sauce.
12. Beef in fine strips, fried fast with sesame oil and soy.
13. Prawns sliced and fried 1 minute.
14. Beansprouts blanched, squeezed and dressed with sesame oil.
15. Yolks and whites cooked as two separate thin omelettes and cut into 5 cm strips.
16. Everything arranged in the eight outer sections of a platter with the pancakes in the centre, and the dip alongside. Rolled and eaten by each person at the table.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under South Korea · All recipes