안녕하세요, Kia Orana, Welcome
This week I continue my adventures on Jeju island, South Korea. In Vol 25, I discussed a tasty Spanish Mackerel & Hairtail fish.
Spanish Mackerel at Segowipo Maeil Olle Market - Images courtesy of Coconuts & Kimchi.
Hotteok - Korean sweet pancake filled with brown sugar
One of the strange things in South Korea is no matter how much you eat and how full you are. As soon as you leave a restaurant, cafe, etc. You suddenly need to get something else to eat. Koreans usually ask you 밥 먹었어요? (Bap meogeoseoyo?) “Have you eaten”? Everywhere people are eating or asking if you have eaten. I think it’s a remnant from the Korean war 1950 - 1953 that left the country devastated and resulted in huge shortages of food.
Upon leaving the fish restaurant I took a walk around and checked out the rest of the Segowipo Maeil Olle Market in the hope of finding something else tasty.
The Korean winter can sometimes be extremely cold. A few years ago I experienced - 20 degrees Celcius as the Siberian wind cuts right through any clothing I may have. As a Polynesian, it goes against my senses.
On my adventures around the market, I saw a yummy food stand that made me smile. I tried this snack many years ago with a slight variation. The first thing you notice is the smell of these things being prepared. The sweet smell of honey, sugar and cinnamon. You can’t avoid it during the cold winter. These tasty little things filled with brown sugar, nuts, and cinnamon bring a smile to my face.
This is Hotteok - Korean sweet pancake filled with brown sugar & cinnamon then fried in oil or butter.
Hotteok - Images courtesy of how stuff works.
The origin
Hotteok, which is known as "Tang Bing" (meaning "sweet pancake" in Chinese) can be traced back to Tang Dynasty. Emperor Gaozong of Tang had awarded a "Tang Bing" to Xuan Zang for his bravery and insistence for fetching Buddhist scriptures. In the late 19th century, Chinese merchants in Korea brought the dish to Korea, and gave it a Korean name hotteok.1
What is in these pancakes and what makes them so delicious?
The dough for hotteok is made from wheat flour, water, milk, sugar, and yeast. The dough is allowed to rise for several hours. Handful-sized balls of this stiff dough are filled with a sweet mixture, which may contain brown sugar, honey, chopped peanuts, and cinnamon. The filled dough is then placed on a greased griddle, and pressed flat into a large circle, this is done with a stainless steel circle and wooden handle as it cooks.2
My favorite “Hotteok” are filled with cinnamon, brown sugar, and honey. Its a sweet tooth paradise. They come off the grill hot and one is almost not enough. Especially, on a cold winters day.
You can get other varieties containing cheese, vegetables, meat, cheese, and red beans. On my adventures in the market I discovered another variety that is also hot with brown sugar but contains sesame and sunflower seeds that are supposed to be good for your health. It’s a particular delicacy in the southern parts of South Korea. You can hopefully see how it’s made in the video at the beginning.
Its called Ssiat Hotteok - Busan sweet pancake
Ssiat Hotteok at Segowipo Maeil Olle Market - Images courtesy of Coconuts & Kimchi.
They are usually served in a cup and cost a few dollars. I definitely recommend trying them if you ever get the chance. Beware you will need more than one and sometimes the lines are really long. However, its well worth it.^^
“Feed your focus, starve your distractions.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotteok
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotteok
Korean sweet pancake at the market on Jeju Island - Vol 27