Hotteok Korean Street Food

HOTTEOK (KOREAN STREET FOOD)

Steps:

• In a mixing bowl, combine warm milk, yeast and sugar and whisk until yeast and sugar are dissolved completely. Let it stand in a warm place to activate for 5 to 10 minutes. You will see little bubbles on the surface.
• In a stand mixer or in a large mixing bowl, combine flour and salt. Pour in warm milk mixture. Kneed dough on medium low speed for 5 to 10 minutes if you are using stand mixer. If you are doing it with hand; mix with a wooden spoon or a spatula, until dough is smooth and elastic form, about 5 to 10 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap completely. Let it rise in a warm place for 3 hours.
• Meanwhile, combine all ingredients for filling in a mixing bowl and set a side.
• When dough is ready, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium low heat and add enough cooking oil to cover bottom of skillet.
• Coat your both hands with cooking oil and take about 2 oz of dough at a time and roll as a ball. Flatten dough like a mini pizza using your fingertips. Place round dough on you palm and scoop about 1Tbs amount filling in center. Seal it completely by pinching edges together at top wrapping dough around filling.
• Place shaped dough on preheated skillet, seam side down. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until bottom is golden brown and crispy. Meanwhile, keep working on shaping dough.
• Fill it over carefully using 2 spatulas and press dough down with a hottoek press or spatula. Cook another 2 to 3 minutes, or until both side of hotteok is golden brown crispy and sugar is melted inside.
• Transfer hotteok to a paper towel lined plate. Repeat until remaining ingredients are gone. Enjoy when it's warm!!

HOTTEOK

Steps:

• Combine flour, yeast, and 2 teaspoons white sugar together in a bowl.
• Stir milk and water together in a microwave-safe bowl and heat until lukewarm, about 20 seconds. Pour milk mixture into the flour mixture and mix with a fork until dough is evenly combined.
• Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 2 minutes. (Dough will be sticky.) Add salt to the dough and knead until dough is smooth, 2 minutes more. Shape dough into a ball, place on a floured surface, cover with a wet paper towel, and let rise for 10 minutes.
• Mix brown sugar, 1/4 cup white sugar, walnuts, sesame seeds, and cinnamon together in a resealable plastic bag. Close bag and shake until filling is evenly combined.
• Roll dough into a cylinder, cut into 10 pieces and form each into a ball. Roll each ball into a 5-inch circle using a rolling pin. Place dough into the palm of your hand and spoon 2 tablespoons filling into the middle of the dough. Wrap dough around filling, forming into a ball by taking 4 corners of dough, pinching together in the middle. Take another 4 corners and pinch together, sealing completely. Place balls, seam-side down, onto a floured surface.
• Roll each ball into a 5-inch circle using a rolling pin, making sure filling stays in dough.
• Place margarine in a skillet, spreading around with a paper towel; heat over medium heat. Place dough in the melted margarine and cook until golden brown, 5 to 10 minutes per side.

SWEET PANCAKES WITH BROWN SUGAR SYRUP FILLING (HOTTEOK)

Steps:

• Place 1 cup of lukewarm water into a mixing bowl. Add white sugar, yeast, kosher salt, vegetable oil, and stir it well. Add 2 cups all purpose flour and mix it with a rice scoop, or by hand. Let the dough rise. It should sit with the lid closed at room temperature for 1 hour. After an hour the dough will rise to double its size. Knead it to remove the gas bubbles in the dough. Let it rise for another 10-20 minutes.
• Mix the turbinado sugar, cinnamon powder, and walnuts in a bowl.
• Knead the dough again to remove the gas bubbles. Place and spread about ½ cup flour on your cutting board. Put the dough on your cutting board and knead it. Make it into a lump, and cut it into 8 equal-sized balls. Take 1 dough ball, flatten it, put some filling in the center of the dough, and then seal it to make a ball. Repeat this 8 times to make 8 stuffed balls.
• Place 1 ball on the pan and let it cook for 30 seconds. When the bottom of the dough ball is light golden brown, turn it over and press the dough with a spatula to make a thin and wide circle (about the size of a CD). Let it cook about 1 minute until the bottom is golden brown. Turn it over again and turn down the heat very low. Place the lid on the pan and cook 1 more minute. The brown sugar filling mixture will be melted to syrup! Serve hot!

HOTTEOK (SWEET FILLED PANCAKES)

Steps:

• Make the dough: In a small saucepan over medium heat, heat the milk to about 105 degrees. (If you don't have a thermometer, heat the milk until it feels like a warm bath - hot but not scalding). Remove from heat, stir in the granulated sugar and yeast, and whisk until the sugar has dissolved. Let stand in a warm place for 3 to 5 minutes, or until bubbling, to activate the yeast.
• In a large bowl, combine the bread flour, rice flour, cornstarch and salt. Slowly stir in the warm milk mixture until a sticky dough forms. Grease your hands with a little oil to prevent sticking and shape the dough into a ball. Transfer the dough ball to another large bowl greased lightly with vegetable oil, and cover with a clean, damp kitchen towel. Let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Punch it down, cover again and let it rise until doubled in size again, about 1 1/2 hours more.
• Meanwhile, make the filling: In a small bowl, mix together the muscovado sugar, peanuts, cinnamon and salt. Muscovado sugar has a tendency to clump - use your fingers to squish any clumps.
• After the dough has risen a second time, dust a clean work surface with bread flour and turn the dough out onto it. Dust the top of the dough with some more flour and knead it a few times. Shape the dough into a fat, long log.
• Cut the dough into 10 equal pieces, shape each piece into a ball, set on the floured work surface, and cover with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap. Dusting with flour as needed to prevent sticking, press a dough ball into a 4-inch-wide disk using your fingertips. Make sure the disk is uniformly thick so the finished pancake will be evenly filled.
• Put the disk in your hand and slightly cup it. Spoon 2 packed tablespoons of the filling into the center of the disk. Seal the disk closed by wrapping the dough around the filling and pinching the edges together at the top. Once sealed, reshape gently to form a ball, set with the seam side down on the floured work surface and cover with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap. Repeat with the remaining dough balls and filling. (You may have some leftover filling. Sprinkle it on buttered toast or roti. Combine it with peeled, sliced apples and bake it into a pie or crumble.)
• In a large nonstick skillet, heat 3 tablespoons oil over medium-high. Put 2 or 3 dough balls seam-side down in the skillet and immediately flatten them with a spatula to a diameter of about 4 inches. Reduce the heat to medium and fry the pancakes until golden brown and crisp on the bottom, 3 to 4 minutes. Flip them and cook until the other side is golden brown and the hotteok feel slightly springy to the touch, 3 to 4 minutes more.
• Transfer the hotteok to a wire rack or paper towel-lined plate when done. Repeat with the remaining dough balls, wiping the skillet clean and adding fresh oil for each batch. Let the hotteok cool slightly before serving; it's easy to burn yourself in your haste to gobble these up, as the insides are hot and oozing. Any leftovers can be cooled completely and frozen in an airtight container for up to a month. Reheat in a 350-degree oven, and re-fry in a pan with a little oil to crisp them again.