What is Hotteok?
Hotteok 호떡 is a popular Korean street snack – shallow pan fried to crisp perfection on the outside, the dough is chewy and filled with brown sugar that will melt into a gooey syrup. It’s no wonder this snack is popular during the winter season in Korea. Usually served piping hot in a paper cup, it keeps your hands and belly all warm and fuzzy.
What ingredients do I need?
You can easily recreate this at home with a few simple kitchen staples – flour, water, salt, sugar, yeast and oil. As for the filling, the sky is the limit. Modern day hotteoks come with all sorts of fillings, from corn to cheese, vegetables to bulgogi, the varieties are endless. With such delicious pan fried doughy exterior, you really can’t go wrong.
This time however, let’s stick to a traditional hotteok, which also happens to be my favorite. All you need is fine brown sugar and cinnamon powder. If you like, you can add some crushed peanuts, or sunflower and pumpkin seeds for a healthy addition.
Cooking your hotteok to perfection
After you have formed the dough balls, place them gently into a pan on medium heat seam side down. Make sure you have enough oil in the pan to prevent it from sticking. Wait for about 30 seconds before flattening the ball.
Usually to make hotteok, you will need a flat, circle presser to press down into a wide circle. But even without this tool, we can always improvise! You can either use your flat spatula, or copy what I did, using a 250ml stainless steel cup as my base and pressed down using my spatula as shown below:
After a couple of minutes, flip the hotteok over. What you are looking for is a nice golden brown on both sides, before turning the gas down into a small flame to prevent it from burning. Cover with a lid so that the heat does not dissipate and continue to fry until dough is cooked and the sugar melts away. Transfer onto some kitchen towel to remove excess oil.
If you have watched reality cooking show Youn’s Kitchen 윤식당, you may remember Park Seo Joon showing off his hotteok making skills. I vividly remember him adding some banana slices into the hotteok, which I thought would go so well together with the brown sugar syrup. I’ve always wanted to attempt it and I finally did. If you love banana, you’d love this variation – SO GOOD!
In time, I will also want to create a savoury version filled with japchae, which I will share in the near future. Enjoy these sweet pancakes for now. Here’s a short 1 minute video guide for some visual guidance:
Hotteok (Korean Sweet Pancakes)
Ingredients
Dough
- 130 g plain all-purpose flour (1 cup + 1 tbsp)
- 1 tbsp sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp instant yeast
- ½ cup lukewarm water
- 1 tbsp oil
Filling
- ¼ cup fine brown sugar
- ½ tsp cinnamon powder
- 2 tbsp crushed nuts/seeds
- sliced banana pieces optional
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, sift flour in then whisk together all of the other dough's dry ingredients – sugar, salt, and yeast. Add in lukewarm water and knead together.(For Thermomix method refer to notes below)
- Add oil, then knead until well combined. This can be done via hand (as shown in video post) or using the dough hook attachment on your stand mixer.
- Shape dough into a round, smooth ball then cover and allow to rise for 1 hour at room temperature until the dough has doubled in size.
- Grease your hand lightly with oil (to prevent dough from sticking to your hand) and punch down the dough to remove gas bubbles. Cover again and let dough rise for another 20 minutes.
- During the last 10 minutes, prepare filling by mixing brown sugar and cinnamon powder in another bowl. You can separate the nuts/seeds as well as banana slices.
- When the dough is ready, turn out onto a floured surface. The dough will be sticky, but coating your hands with flour will help you manage dough better. Divide into 6 equal-sized pieces and shape into balls.
- For each dough ball, flatten it out and create a crevice in the center. Top with a tablespoon of filling in the center, top with nuts/seeds and banana if using, then pinch edges together enclosing the dough ball together. Repeat for the rest of the dough balls.
- Heat a medium-large pan over medium heat. When pan has heated up, add some oil (about 3-4 tablespoons) to the pan. Depending on the size of your pan, work in a few batches of 2-3 dough at a time, ensuring you have space in between each dough.
- When the oil is hot, place a dough ball in it, with the sealed seam facing down and cook on medium-high heat until golden brown on the bottom (about 60-90 seconds) then flip. Using a flat presser or my improvised tool idea using a stainless steel cup, press down on the hotteok to flatten it into a wide round disc and cook until the bottom is golden brown (another 60-90 seconds). Serve hot whilst filling is melty/gooey!
Notes
knead 20 seconds. Transfer dough to a silicone mat, shape into a round ball, wrap loosely using cling wrap/damp towel and proof for 60 minutes until doubled in size. Proceed with step 4 as above.Have you tried this recipe?
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Hello! I was wondering if you had any tips for a Thermomix method for this recipe?
Can’t wait to try. It looks so good.
Hi Anne, for this recipe actually you won’t need the Thermomix as mixing with hand only took me like 2 minutes max. But if you do want to use the Thermomix, I’ve added notes on the bottom. 🙂
Thank you!! I really appreciate it.