Hotteok is a popular street snack in Korea. It’s a sweet treat made by pan-frying yeast dough stuffed with a brown sugar and nut filling. You can easily make it at home with this easy to follow recipe!
I have a sweet treat to share with you today! A delicious hotteok (or hoddeok) recipe! Hotteok is a popular street snack in Korea. It’s basically a pan-fried yeast dough stuffed with a brown sugar and nut filling. Eaten hot off the griddle on the street, hotteok is especially popular on cold days.
It also reminds me of my trip to Korea in late October two years ago. My parents had traveled over there to get home country care for my mother’s illness. Soon after, I followed them to help them out.
One day, after having stayed at the hospital all night, I decided to go to Insadong for a little break. Strolling around, I ran into a hotteok stand with a long line of people. It got me curious, and before I knew it I was in line. I later learned that this place, called Teolbone (Beard man’s) Hotteok, was very famous for their signature glutinous rice and corn hotteok.
Although it was not the traditional hotteok that I grew up with, it was quite delicious! It certainly warmed up my soul when I was tired and weary on an unusually cold October day.
When I returned home, I experimented with different ingredients and ratios to recreate it. However, that is not the recipe I am sharing here today. Because it’s pumpkin season, I’ve tweaked it a little to make pumpkin hotteok. After a couple of trials, I was very happy with how these came out. They are chewy, gooey and nutty!
- 1 package Active Dry yeast 2-1/4 teaspoons
- 1/3 cup warm water
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon canola or corn oil
- 1/2 cup warm milk
- 1/2 cup warm kabocha or pumpkin puree either fresh* or canned
- 1-3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup glutinous rice powder aka sweet rice
- 1 teaspoon salt
- canola or corn oil for pan frying
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
- 3 tablespoons of assorted nuts peanuts, walnuts, almonds, pine nuts, etc., finely chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
-
Warm a large bowl by rinsing it with warm water. Add 1/3 cup of warm water to the bowl. Stir in the sugar, oil and yeast. Let it sit for about 10 minutes until the yeast has bubbled up.
-
Sift the flour, glutinous rice powder, and salt together. Add the milk, pumpkin and flour mix to the yeast water. Knead until everything is well incorporated. The dough will be a little sticky.
-
Cover with plastic wrap. Place it in a warm place and let it rise until doubled, about an hour.
-
Prepare the filling by chopping the nuts and mixing all the filling ingredients well.
-
Bring the dough down by reshaping into a round. Let it sit for another 20 - 30 minutes until doubled again.
-
Start heating a pan with a couple of tablespoons of oil over medium heat. Lightly oil your hands. Tear a big enough piece to make an about 2 to 2-1/2-inch ball. Flatten into a thick disk, creating a shallow well in the middle. Add a tablespoon of the filling and lightly press it down with the spoon.
-
Carefully gather the edges together, pinching to seal. (This might take some practice.)
-
Put the sealed side down on the pan, flattening a little by pressing it down with an oiled hand or spatula. Cook for a minute, and then flip over. Press down for a few seconds to flatten. Cook until both sides are golden brown. Repeat the process with the remaining dough.
Hotteok freezes well. You can reheat them in a toaster or toaster oven and enjoy delicious hotteok any time.
If I can't buy sweet rice flour, (actually I don't know what this is), can I just use ground rice? I could make my own, in my Thermomix. But is there a preferred rice, glutinous rice perhaps??
I am very happy to discover your blog and hope to learn more about Korean cuisine. I love gochujang, kimchi and have enjoyed all the rarely tasted or cooked Korean dishes, so it's time to cook more. Your recipes sound so appealing and are so well explained, I feel I have found a perfect teacher.
Sara - Just simply omit the pumpkin, and use a little more warm water (1 or 2 tablespoons). I like to use glutinous rice powder, but it can also be made simply with wheat flour. Thanks!
Nami - I really like the street food culture in Korea. It's so much fun! My mom is doing okay. Thank you!
Holly - I used to have one of those but can't find it any more. Just disappeared. Really I beat you this time? How could that happen? I am the slower one. Ha ha! Look forward to seeing yours. Thanks for stopping by!
Cheryl - Sweet rice is glutinous rice. I should have noted that. I am not sure regular rice would do the same trick though. Updated! Thanks for visiting!
Fern - Thanks for the nice words. Hope you get to make and enjoy it.
Jasmine - The use of sweet rice in hotteok is very common, and pumpkin is used often too. Hope you try it and see how it compares to the simple wheat flour version. Of course I would love to hear about it too. Thanks for visiting!
Sissi - Thanks for such kind words! I am very happy to see you here and look forward to hearing more about your Korean cooking.
Chef Julie - Thank you! That's what I should have titled the post...
There's just so much food everywhere in Korea; that I remember from my last trip there!!
I am happy to have found a Korean food blog, nice to meet you ;)
Stephanie - Thank you! And thank you for mentioning eating and living in your interview with Saveur.com. I am incredibly flattered!
Elena - Let me know how it turns out for you. Thanks for visiting!
Christy - Nice to meet you too! Look forward to getting to know you through our blogs.
I follow a few food blogs, but yours is the first I've actually had the urge to post on! I'm Chinese and I'm living in Atlanta right now. We have a big Korean population here so there are a ton of Korean restaurants nearby, with new ones popping up all the time. I wish the Chinese food in Atlanta was nearly as good!
As someone who cooks and loves to eat, I have to re-iterate what many others have told you; your recipes are the best I've seen for Korean food. I found you searching for a recipe for ojingeo bokkeum. The minute I read yours, I knew it was the right one. The flavor was exactly what I hoped it would be!
I'm posting here because I'm planning to make hobak hotteok tomorrow. I wanted to let you know that your hotteok recipe is not listed in your recipe index. I panicked when I went there searching.
I first had hotteok at a Korean supermarket. I couldn't resist every time I saw a Korean woman frying them up on a little electric pan. They were delicious except for an odd chemical aftertaste. I think it was from use of baking soda/baking powder. I'm so excited to make them at home using your yeast recipe. Thank you!
Another question, what do Korean eat for 추석 (chuseok)day?
감사합니다.
So excited :) Thank you for sharing your Korean food expertise with us
감사합니다
http://www.onlineconversion.com/weight_volume_cooking.htm