Rice Cake (Songpyeon) Recipe

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Looking for an easy Rice Cake (songpyeon) recipe? Learn how to make Rice Cake (songpyeon) using healthy ingredients.

Submitted by figsinseason

Makes 40 servings

Traditional Korean rice cakes. From: http://www.maangchi.com

Recipe Ingredients for Rice Cake (songpyeon)

3	cups Sweet Rice Flour
1/4	cup of roasted sesame seeds
1/4	cup of brown sugar
1/4	cup of dried mung beans
1/4	cup of water
1/4	cup of white sugar

Recipe Directions for Rice Cake (songpyeon)

Ingredients: Frozen rice flour, salt, water, sesame seeds, sesame oil, dried and skinned mung beans, brown sugar, white sugar, pine needles, mugwort powder (ssook garu in Korean), strawberry Jell-o powder.
Make the dough: Prepare a package of rice powder (2 lbs) usually sold frozen at a Korean grocery store. Just before using it, you must thaw it until the powder is at room temperature.
Put rice powder through a sifter to make the powder fine.
Tip: If your rice powder is very fine, you can skip sifting. If your rice powder is coarse, you may have to grind it with a food processor or coffee grinder before sifting.
Prepare 3 stainless bowls and put 1 cup of finely sifted rice powder into the each bowl. (Bowl A, B, and C)
Boil 2 cups of water for your rice dough.
Bowl A (white songpyeon): add a pinch of salt and 3 tbs of boiling water and mix it with a wooden spoon. (it?ll be too hot if you use your hands at first) Knead the rice dough for about 5 minutes. Put the dough into a plastic bag and set it aside.
Bowl B (pink songpyeon): add a pinch of salt, a pinch of strawberry Jell-o powder, and 3 tbs of boiling water. Mix it with a wooden spoon and knead the rice dough for about 5 minutes. Put the dough into a plastic bag and set it aside.
Bowl C (green songpyeon): add a pinch of salt, 1 ts of ssookgaru (mugwort power) and 3.5 tbs boiling water. Mix it with a wooden spoon and knead the rice dough for about 5 minutes. Put the dough into a plastic bag and set it aside. Tip: You will need to add 3.5 tbs of water because of the 1 ts of ssookgaru.
Make the filling:
Roasted sesame seeds powder filling: Grind ¼ cup of roasted sesame seeds using a coffee grinder for 15-20 seconds.
Transfer the ground sesame powder into a small bowl and mix it with ¼ cup of brown sugar and a pinch of salt. Tip: if you grind too long, the powder will become sticky from the oil in the seeds.
Mung bean powder filling: Wash and drain ¼ cup of dried and skinned mung beans and put them in a pot with a thick bottom.
Add ¼ cup of water and a pinch of salt to the pot and simmer it for 30 minutes. Tip: Be sure not to burn it - simmer over the lowest heat.
Open the pot and use your wooden spoon to crush the beans into fine powder. Tip: if you make more than ¼ cup of mung bean powder, you may have to use your grinder or food processor to grind it finely.
Transfer the crushed mung bean powder into a small bowl or container and wait until it cools down.
Add ¼ cup of white sugar and mix it. That?s it!
Let?s make songpyeon now! Break off a piece of rice dough about 1 inch in diameter and roll it between your palms to make a rice ball. Then press your thumb in the center of the ball to make it shaped like a cup.
Fill the cup with either sesame filling or mung bean filling using a small spoon, and seal it using your thumb and index fingers.
Place all the raw rice cakes (songpyeon) on a plate.
Wash your pine needles thoroughly with a little dish soap. Towel dry them.
Put some water (4 cups) into a steamer and boil it. When it starts boiling, place a damp cotton cloth on the bottom of the steamer tray.
Make a bed of pine needles on the wet cloth and put the raw songpyeon on top. Put more pine needles on top of the songpyeon, too. Tip: Pine needles stop the songpyeon from sticking together and give them a good flavor.
Steam it for 25 minutes over medium high heat.
Prepare some cold water in a large bowl, and drop in a little sesame oil.
Dump your steamed songpyeon into to the cold water and quickly remove pine needles. Take them out, put them on a plate to serve.
Enjoy your songpyeon!