Hotteok (Sweet Stuffed Korean Pancake)
Photo: by yearofeats · CC BY 2.0

History

Hotteok arrived in Korea via Chinese immigration in the late 19th century and naturalised as a winter street food by the 1920s. Sambodang Hotteok at Namdaemun Market has fried hotteok for over 40 years; the brown-sugar-cinnamon filling crystallised as the canonical version in the 1970s. Modern variations include green tea filling, ssiat (seed-filled) hotteok, and ice cream hotteok.

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Common allergens: Gluten, Tree nuts (peanuts), Dairy

Make it at home

Yield 10Hands-on 30 minTotal 2 hrDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • For the dough: 250g bread flour
  • 250g sweet rice flour (chapssal-garu) or substitute glutinous rice flour
  • 1 tsp fine sea salt
  • 60g caster sugar
  • 7g instant yeast
  • 250ml warm whole milk
  • 100ml warm water
  • 30g unsalted butter melted
  • For the filling: 120g dark brown sugar (the muscovado kind, not refined)
  • 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
  • 60g coarsely crushed roasted peanuts (or walnuts)
  • 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds (optional)
  • Neutral oil, for frying (about 60ml)

Method

  1. Mix bread flour, sweet rice flour, salt, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl.
  2. Combine warm milk, warm water, and melted butter. Pour into the dry mix and stir to a soft sticky dough; do not knead.
  3. Cover and prove at room temperature for 90 minutes until doubled and bubbly.
  4. Mix brown sugar, cinnamon, crushed peanuts, and sesame seeds in a small bowl.
  5. Heat a generous amount of oil in a wide cast-iron skillet over medium-low heat (the lower the heat, the better; the dough must cook through before the surface burns).
  6. Oil your hands. Pull off a golf-ball-sized portion of dough.
  7. Flatten in your palm to a disc. Place 1 heaped tablespoon of filling in the centre.
  8. Pinch the edges together to seal completely; the filling must not leak.
  9. Place sealed-side down in the hot oil. Wait 30 seconds, then press the dough flat with a metal spatula or a special hotteok press to a 1.5cm-thick pancake.
  10. Fry 90 seconds per side until deep golden and the filling has melted into a hot pocket. Drain briefly on paper, then eat immediately while the molten sugar is liquid.
  11. Be careful; the filling is screaming hot and burns the tongue. Wait 60 seconds before biting.

Tip from the editors. Mixing sweet rice flour into the dough is the Korean street-vendor secret; it gives the chewy translucent crust that distinguishes proper hotteok from a generic stuffed pancake. Glutinous rice flour from any Asian grocer works.

Where to eat hotteok (sweet stuffed korean pancake)

Hotteok (Sweet Stuffed Korean Pancake) in Seoul

Sambodang Hotteok ★ 4.4

₩ Street foodJongno And InsadongCash only

Sambodang sells only one item from a maroon-awning stall halfway down Insadong-gil: a fist-sized hotteok stuffed with brown sugar, cinnamon and chopped nuts.

TryHotteok (brown sugar and nut filled pan-fried pancake)

Directions

Namdaemun Market Hotteok Stalls ★ 4.4

₩ Street foodJung Gu And MyeongdongCash only

Namdaemun Market hotteok stalls fry thick dough discs filled with brown sugar, cinnamon and crushed peanuts on flat irons in the market's main food lane.

TryHotteok (sugar-filled fried pancakes) and kalguksu

Directions

Myeongdong Street Food Alley ★ 4.2

₩ Street foodJung Gu And Myeongdong

The Myeongdong pedestrian strip turns into one of the densest street food corridors in Asia after 16:00, with stalls selling tteokbokki (spicy rice.

TryTteokbokki, corn dogs, egg bread (gyeran-ppang)

Directions

Hongdae Street Food Strip ★ 4.1

₩ Street foodHongdae And Yeonnam

The Hongdae strip around Hongik University generates dense street food every evening: chimaek, takoyaki, and Korean corn dogs from the university exit.

TryChimaek (Korean fried chicken and beer), takoyaki, crepes

Directions

Tongin Market ★ 4.4

₩ MarketJongno And Insadong

Tongin Market: buy a dosirak tray and brass yeopjeon coins, fill the tray from banchan stalls across the market, then eat in the communal hall at the back.

Directions

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