[Food]

[Food] Hotteok (Sugar-filled Korean pancake, 호떡)

Hotteok is very popular and common street snack in Korea, chewy and sweet pan-fried bread can be seen any Korean downtown. It's origin is very old as much as Silk Road, China exchanged many culture (including gourmet) through merchants of Silk Road with Arabia and Central Asia, and hotteok which means 'gentile's cake' was one of them. Even there's a historical record which proves the first king of Tang Dynasty enjoyed it too. Then how this Chinese pancake came into the Korean peninsula and changed to hotteok, sugar-filled Korean pancake?

In 1882, the Im-O Military Revolt occurred in Korea so the Qing Dynasty dispatched its army with merchants for supply. On that time, the merchants of the Qing Dynasty brought hotteok and many Chinese gourmet (including jajangmyeon) with them, and the merchants didn't return to China. After the fall of Qing Dynasty, many of them opened Chinese-style restaurant and snack shop in Korea, and that's how Chinese-style gourmet became Korean food. In 1920s, Chinese laborers came into Korea for large construction business, and it ignited boom of hotteok in Korea.

Originally, hotteok was baked in oven but it was changed to pan-frying on huge iron pan since production of cooking oil in Korea. Since then, hotteok sellers used cooking oil or margarine to deep or pan-fry hotteok for better taste, and cheaper and convenient recipe :)

Today there are many variation of hotteok recipe, people stuffs nuts, seeds, vegetables, sweet potato noodle, brown sugar, cheese, ice cream and more into hotteok. Moreover they also changed recipe of hotteok mix which are using or adding stick rice powder, rice powder, green tea powder, mixed grains and more. I guess people of the world always find better, easier and tastier way of any food.

Hotteok is more popular in the winter because it's 'hot' cake with 'hotter' stuffing, it needs sizzling iron pan or pot to cook too. You never want to cook hotteok under blazing sun, do you?

Hotteok with vegetable and sweet potato noodle

Hotteok with ice cream and cheese

Instant green tea flavor hotteok mix

You may find instant hotteok mix at nearby Korean grocery shop, how about trying hotteok today? :)

Bon Appétit!

 [Food]

[Food] Gungoguma (Roasted sweet potato, 군고구마)

My father used to bring home Korean street food after a hard day's work, and one of them was gungoguma (roasted sweet potato). Roasted sweet potato is a typical and common Korean street food from decades ago. A Gungoguma street vendor uses a huge, cylindrical goguma roaster which has six smaller cylinders within to contain sweet potatoes and bake them. We don't see as much gungoguma (roasted sweet potato) today as in the olden days as they have been replaced by 24-hours convenience stores :)

Gungoguma (roasted sweet potato) roaster

Gungoguma roaster in convenience store

Goguma (sweet potato in Korean) is harvested from the summer to autumn seasons but you can find it regardless of the season. It is usually steamed, deep-fried or roasted because of its very sweet taste and smooth texture :)

When goguma is roasted, its skin becomes very crispy and its inside becomes very sweet and soft with a golden color. Its sweetness tastes as good as pure honey. So people use an oven, pan and grill to cook sweet potato at home to derive excess sweetness from it.

Goguma used to be a Korean's best friend since it was imported from Japan in the 17th century. Goguma's origins can be found in Central and South America before coming to Europe, China, Japan and Korea. In the 17th century, Korea was in a chaotic situation due to power conflicts concerning the rule of the Korean peninsular. Everyday people were naturally left in a fatal famine so goguma acted as an emergency crop because sweet potato could be easily farmed. Some people, including officials, even recorded manuals on how to farm sweet potato to increase its production in the country.

Today, Koreans who have more advanced cooking instruments and skills make a variety of sweet potato dishes including chips, bread, cake, pizza, drinks and more. However, in my personal opinion, gungoguma (roasted sweet potato) is the most popular and best tasting among all sweet potato dishes because it derives the greatest sweetness from sweet potato :)

If it is a bitterly cold day, how about savoring some gungoguma (roasted sweet potato)? Bring some sweet potatoes home, and bake them for warm sweetness :)

Bon Appétit!

 [Food]

[Food] Bungeoppang (Fish-shaped bun, 붕어빵)

Bungeoppang is a very typical Korean street snack which resembles carp. We can usually find it in winter because it needs an iron oven that bakes it into a fish-shaped bun. You don't want to bake a bun in front of a crazy hot oven in hot days, do you? :)

In the winter season, you can find many street vendors who sell bungeoppang and hot fish cake soup together because people want to eat hot street food on their way home or take it as a hot snack home :)

A street vendor in Seoul that sells bungeoppang and hot fish cake soup

Bungeoppang originates from Japanese taiyaki (snapper-shaped bun) which flowed into the Korean peninsula around 1930. Bungeoppang has become very popular in Korea since the 1990's with its retro trend. In the beginning, there was only sweet red-bean paste bungeoppang.

However, Korean cuisine created its own style of fish-shaped bun with varieties of stuffing such as vegetables, custard cream, sweet potato paste, pizza sauce, ice cream, mint chocolate, kimchi and more.

Taiyaki (Snapper-shaped bun of Japan)

Bungeoppang (Carp-shaped bun of Korea)

So, you call yourself a street snack and bread lover? Then look out for a bungeoppang street vendor in Korea if you have a chance to visit :) It's cheap, crispy and sweet :) I'm sure you will be so happy with a large paper bag filled with warm bungeoppang in your embrace :)

Bon Appétit!