Hoddeok (Korean Street Food)

Since Seoul is a) a big city and b) Asian, there is a lot of street food. The most predominant street food on the street where we live is squid on a stick cooked directly on top of coals. It’s actually a smell I’ve come to appreciate.

Depending on the location and time of year there are lots of different street foods, most of them on a stick. I usually don’t eat street food, nothing about it looks sanitary and I’m a little paranoid about food borne ah.. disruptions.

But last Winter, I was invited out to see some historic temples and walk around Korea with a friend and a local Korean guide. As a treat our local guide took us to several local spots. One was a traditional Korean restaurant (I’ve had American Korean food and it was nothing like this, I didn’t even recognize anything or know if it was animal or vegetable), but I decided to be brave and try EVERYTHING on the table. And I did.

We then stopped at a street that was famous for having a ton of street food vendors. They had little tiny shop fronts (instead of carts) and there were tons of people in line at every shop, so I decided to just go for it again. I accepted the street food offered to me by our guide and was surprised because it was hot, sweet and delicious! It was Hoddeok, and brown sugar filled pancake thing.

I loved it and kept my eyes open for more the rest of the winter but none of the street food people near me were selling it. As it got warmer they stopped selling hot food and I gave up on ever having it again.

THEN I happened across a Korean woman’s blog who had a recipe for Hoddoek !!! apparently she made it for her kids all the time, and it was a common treat for house wives to make. I’ve never, let me repeat that NEVER baked from scratch like it was saying and I’ve never made dough, so it was a little intimidating. But I really wanted to see if I could make it, and I wanted to share the deliciousness with Justin so I set out and made a batch.

They were awesome. And exactly like I remembered them being. Be careful, they are hot and the liquid sugar inside is even hotter. The blog said to serve hot, but just heads up, not too hot. I re-worded the recipe, her English wasn’t the best (not the worst, but you have to be in the habit of translating), so here is the recipe. If you want to have authentic Korean street food without wondering if they washed their hands or if those car fumes can get cooked into food, here ya go!

Hoddeok
Korean street food
a flour dough pancake filled with sugar syrup

Dough:
2 TS dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1/2 TS salt
1 TBS vegetable oil
2 TBS white sugar
2 cups flour

Filling:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 TS ground cinnamon


1) Combine
Yeast, Water, Salt, Vegetable Oil and Sugar
in a large mixing bowl, stir well

2) Add Flour and Mix to combine

3) cover bowl and let dough rise at room temperature for 1 hour

4) knead dough (flour as needed) and let rise for another 15 minutes

5) flour cutting board and knead dough again, shaping it into a log. Flatten log and cut dough into 8 equal pieces. Form balls, set aside.

6)FILLING: combine brown sugar and cinnamon in a separate small bowl

7) take one ball of dough at a time, flatten into palm size piece and fill center with approximately 1 TBS of filling, reform into a ball with filling in center, pinch to close. Flour as needed. Fill all dough balls, set aside.

8) Place nonstick pan over medium heat with a thin layer of vegetable oil in pan.

10) Place dough ball in pan cook for 30 seconds or until light golden brown on bottom

11) flip ball over and flatten with spatula (to about the size of a CD) let cook for 1 minute or until golden brown

12) flip over again and turn heat to low. Place lid on pan and let cook for 1 more minute.

Makes 8 Pancakes, keep finished pancakes covered until cooking is done, serve hot.