Assorted Jun (Korean pan-fried small bites)

Korean home meal usually consists of a bowl of rice, a bowl of light broth based soup, and assorted small side dishes called 'banchan', which can be anything from vegetables to meat or seafoods. Each person has his/her own rice and soup, but banchan are served in family style and supposed to be shared by everyone at the table.

One type of banchan, is 'jun'. Jun is simply any kind of pan-fried Korean dishes - usually pan-fried after it is coated with flour and egg mixture. The best part of jun is you can serve it warm or at room temperature. Also, jun can be very versatile - Serve it with rice for your everyday Korean meal, or serve it with a glass of beer or Korean rice wine as a snack.

Here are four different jun recipes that I want to share, so you can get some sort of idea about what jun is. Please be creative and make your own jun as well!

Assorted Jun (Korean pan-fried small bites)

Ingredients:

+ flour & egg mix*
* All the jun recipes in today's posts are going to be pan-fried after they are coated with flour and egg mix.

Zucchini-Shrimp Jun (호박-새우전) + 4 medium size shrimps, peeled & deveined + 1/4 zucchini (green squash) + 1 tsp minced scallion + salt and pepper Cod Jun (대구전) + one small cod fillet + parsley leaves + salt and pepper Enoki mushroom Jun (팽이버섯전) + Enoki mushroom + small piece of red paprika + one scallion, green part + salt and pepper

Pyogo-Beef Jun (표고-고기전) + 8-10 small dehydrated shiitake mushrooms* + 100g lean ground beef + 80g crushed and squeezed tofu** + 1 tsp minced scallion + 1 tsp minced garlic + 1.5 tsp low-sodium soy sauce + 1/2 tsp sesame oil + 1/4 tsp black pepper * In Korean, shiitake mushroom is called pyogo (표고 in Korean). You can find dehydrated pyogo mushroom in an Asian market. ** Crush tofu using side of knife, then wrap the crushed tofu with either cheese clothe or paper towel. Gently, squeeze the water out of tofu with your hands.

Procedures:

Zucchini-Shrimp Jun (호박-새우전)
1. Slice zucchini into 1/4". Mince shrimps and mix with minced scallion, then season the shrimp mixture with salt and pepper. Make a hole in the center (where the seeds are). Sprinkle salt lightly on the zucchini slices. After a few minutes, pat dry the zucchini slices with paper towel. Fill the zucchini holes with shrimp mixture.


2. Coat zucchini with flour and egg mixture, then pan-fry in a heated pan with a bit of vegetable oil (I used a griddle). When the bottom turns light golden brown, flip the zucchini so the other side is cooked light golden brown as well.


Cod Jun (대구전)
1. Slice cod fillet into thin bite-size pieces, and pat dry the surface. Season with salt and pepper. Pan-fry cod pieces after coating with flour and egg. Place a leaf of parsley on top, then flip the cod to cook the other side.


Enoki mushroom Jun (팽이버섯전)
1. Mix egg mixture and a bit of flour, then season with salt and pepper. Add mushrooms to the flour+egg mixture and coat them well. Portion mushrooms, and pan-fry. On top of the mushrooms, sprinkle small diced red paprika and scallion bits.


Pyogo-Beef Jun (표고-소고기전)
* Dehydrated pyogo mushroom has more intense flavor than fresh pyogo mushrooms. Also, I cannot find the same kind of fresh Korean pyogo mushrooms in the US.

1. First, rehydrate pyogo(shiitake) mushrooms in a bowl of water for about two hours until the mushrooms are softened.


While the mushrooms are rehydrated, make meat mixture.

2. Mix minced scallion, minced garlic, low-sodium soy sauce, sesame oil, and black pepper. Then, add lean ground beef and squeezed tofu, and mix them well. Keep the meat mixture in a fridge until use.


3. Remove the stem from shiitake mushroom, then squeeze out excess water from mushrooms by pressing with hands. Sprinkle flour on the mushroom (inside). Then, fill the mushroom with meat mixture. Flour will give the mushroom more sticky surface so the meat mixture attaches easily. Gently press the assembled mushroom to ensure the meat mixture does not fall apart from mushroom.


4. You probably have left over meat mixture. Make small disks out of the meat mixture.


5. Pan-fry the mushroom as well as the beef disks in the same way with other jun recipe shown above. (Dust with flour, coat with egg, and pan-fry).


Enjoy~