These meat patties and other such banchans where some meat or vegetable is covered in flour and egg and pan fried is called buchim. They are traditionally made for parties, holidays, birthdays, or when you have guests over. It's a festive food. It's nice because it's the sort of thing you can make beforehand and warm up when the guests arrive.
Buchim banchans were the first things i learned to make when i was a little girl, maybe age 2-3. I'd stand on a chair at the counter and cover the patties or fish or vegetable in flour, dust them off, and put them on a plate for my mom to dip into an egg mixture and pan fry.
This particular banchan is very easy to make (i only really make the ones that take very little time, cuz that's what i'm about and that's what this blog is about). Anyone can make it. If you don't believe me, ask my sous chef :) He made these all by himself. I just took the pictures.
Here we go!
Ingredients (banchan enough for 2 people):
-1/4 - 1/3 lb lean ground beef
-2 tbsp onion, finely chopped
-2 tbsp carrot, grated
-2 cloves of garlic, minced
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 tsp pepper
-1 stalk of green onion, finely chopped
-1 egg
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/4 cup flour
1. Put ground beef, carrots, onion, and garlic into a small mixing bowl.
Hand mix :) Add the salt and pepper. Set aside.
2. Put flour in a shallow bowl.
3. In other separate bowl, crack in the egg. Whisk until yolk and white are one. Add green onion and salt. Mix well.
Now you have an assembly line of meat mixture, flour, egg--in that order. Let's assemble away!
4. Take a small amount of the meat mixture and roll into a ball. Have your sous chef demonstrate it for you.
5. Now flatten that ball into a small patty.
Oh good job, sous chef! (Er, in other news, my onion pieces are too big. Oh well! Big onion = big smiles for me)
6. Over in the flour bowl, cover the patty in flour and dust off the excess.
Isn't he such a good sport?
7. Drop them into the egg mixture. (repeat steps 4-7 until all meat is used)
8. In a hot pan with some oil, drop in the patties. Cook for about 4 minutes on one side.
9. Flip 'em over and cook the other side for about 4 minutes. You may want to take a few spoonfuls of water and put it in the pan so the steam helps cook the meat.
10. Try splitting the biggest one open (cuz let's be honest, they're never all the same size unless you are my mother). If it's still super pink on the inside, cook for a little longer. Don't mistake the carrot for a pink spot though.
11. When cooked, transfer them onto a small dish lined with a sheet of folded paper towel to absorb the excess grease.
YUM! Check them out!
Mmmm! These are perfectly delicious little things that go very well with a bowl of rice. They cost very little, cuz ground beef is inexpensive, and take pretty much no time to make! And if you use extra lean ground beef like i did, it's not really that bad for you.
And something about the multitude of colors--green onions, orange carrots, white onions, yellow-ish egg--makes the whole thing look extra scrumptious and festive.
And if that wasn't enough, this is a GREAT way to sneak some vegetables into foods that children (or picky eaters) will eat. Tell them it's just a little burger patty. That's what it is, really :)
Enjoy, friends!!
For a printable version of this recipe, please click here.
Yes indeed, these look great. So much so, in fact, that my mouth is literally watering! I don't happen to have ground beef at this time, and feel that I MUST make some variation of these, or die of anticipation. I do have ground pork...will that do?
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