Discover Korean Food #14: Dr. Sook-Ja Yoon's "Hobaktteok" (THE EAST Campaign in Association with The Institute of Traditional Korean Food)

Hobaktteok is a type of rice cake made with non-glutinous rice powder and steamed pumpkin flesh. Tteok is a grain cuisine and has a long history in Korea. It can be served as a main dish to substitute for rice, or as a special food for a festive day or birthday. There are various kinds of tteok with different main ingredients.

*Ingredients

500 g (5 cups) non-glutinous rice powder, 6 g (½ tbsp) salt, 100 g (⅔ cups) sugar

250 g (2 ea) sweet pumpkin

2kg (10 cups) pumpkin-rice cake steaming water

Garnish : 8 g (2 ea) jujube, 8 g (16 ea) pumpkin seeds

*Preparation

1. Scrape out the inside stuffs from the sweet pumpkin.

2. Sprinkle salt on the rice powder and sieve.
3. Wipe the jujube with damp cotton cloths, cut the flesh round, make it into flower shape. Wipe the pumpkin seeds with dry cotton cloths.

* Recipe

1. Pour water into the steaming pot, heat it up for 9 min. on high heat. When it gives off steam, put the sweet pumpkin, steam it for 15 min. Scrape the flesh from the pumpkin (170 g).

2. Add pumpkin flesh and sugar into the rice powder, mix thoroughly by rubbing, then sieve.

3. Pour water into the steaming pot, heat it up for 9 min. on high heat. When it boils, layer damp cotton cloths on the bottom of the pot, put the cake mold on, put the mixture of rice and pumpkin into the mold, Plane the surface. Put crisscross knife slits on the mixture at intervals of 5 cm, top with jujube and pumpkin seeds.

4. Steam it for another 15 min. after steam bursting up.

*Tips

* To steam the sweet pumpkin not to be watery, pumpkin should be kept upright.

* Pumpkin skin may be used for garnish after cutting into sheets and boiling down with sugar.