You may know chef Judy Joo for her deliciously complex takes on Korean classics. But in her book K-Quick: Korean Food in 30 Minutes or Less, she strips the cuisine to its bones, focusing on super-easy dishes you can whip up on a random weeknight. One of our favorites among these tasty recipes is her take on battered and pan-fried fish — otherwise known as saengseon jeon.
“My little niece, Yuna, is addicted to these lightly pan-fried fish fillets,” Joo writes. “She smiles from ear to ear!” The trick to success? Says Joo, it’s about “always selecting the freshest fish and slicing it thinly, making for a truly delicate bite.”
According to Joo, this recipe is pretty adaptable to whatever protein you have on hand, or can pick up at the market: “You can sub out the cod and use butterflied prawns (shrimp), oysters, tofu, and other types of white fish (whiting, flounder, hake, or plaice).” We love a dish that’s as flexible as it is scrumptious.
Joo recommends pairing the fish with jeon dipping sauce, which she describes as a “classic savory pancake dipping sauce” that can also be used as a dip for dumplings or even an impromptu salad dressing. Soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and a touch of sugar come together to create a sweet, sour, tangy sauce that will become a pantry staple, whether you’re cooking Korean food or not.
Yuna’s Battered & Pan-fried Fish (Saengseon Jeon 생선전)
Serves 4
Prep time: 20 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
- 1lb (450g) cod fillets, skin removed, cut into 1cm (½in) thick pieces
- sea or kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- ¾ cup (125g) potato starch
- 4 large eggs
- ¼ cup (60ml) vegetable or other neutral oil
To Serve
- 1 spring onion (scallion), thinly sliced on a bias
- Jeon Dipping Sauce (see below)
Instructions
- Place the cod fillets on a plate and season well with salt and pepper on both sides.
- On a large plate, tip out the potato starch. In a wide bowl, whisk the eggs with a pinch of salt.
- Place a non-stick frying pan over a medium-low heat and drizzle generously with oil. Dry off the fish, dredge lightly through the potato starch and shake off the excess, then place on a clean plate. The flour should be a thin dusting on the fish. Next, dip the fillets in the egg, allowing the excess to drip off. Place the coated fish immediately in the frying pan. Repeat until the pan is full.
- Cook the fish slowly, flipping as necessary, trying not to allow the egg to brown too much (keep the colour of the egg as yellow as possible), about 1 minute on each side. Once done, place the cooked fish on a plate lined with paper towels. Repeat until all the fish is cooked. Scatter the spring onion on top to finish and serve with the dipping sauce.
Jeon Dipping Sauce (Yangnyeomjang 양념장)
Makes ⅓ cup (80ML)
Total time: 5 minutes
Ingredients
- ¼ cup (60ml) soy sauce
- 1⅔ tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp roasted sesame oil
- 1 tbsp roasted sesame seeds
- 2 spring onions (scallions), finely chopped, plus 1 tbsp thinly sliced
- ½ tsp caster (superfine) sugar
Instructions
- Mix together all the ingredients in a bowl and it’s ready to serve.
- The sauce can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Excerpted from K-Quick: Korean Food in 30 Minutes or Less, By Judy Joo. Published by White Loin, an imprint of The Quarto Group, 2025. All Rights Reserved.
