One variety of Korean ‘pancakes’ is Hotteok which is stuffed with a sweet, nutty filling. Another is called jeon a vegetable pancake we can explore later!
There are store bought dough mixes you can buy for hotteok if you want to use them, but it’s more likely that you’ll have instant yeast on hand than an Asian market near you that carries it.
The dough is really simple to make and requires little kneading. For those of you that have a stand mixer you can set them aside for the recipe! You’ll just need a large bowl and a wooden spoon!
Mix your flour, sugar, and salt together and add in the yeasted water and stir with the wooden spoon. It should look like this.
Add the oil and mix properly. Roll the dough into a ball and place into greased bowl, cover with greased plastic wrap. Let set for an hour at room temperature while it rises. (it’s okay for the dough to be sticky)
Once the dough rises, it should look like this. Punch the air down and turn the dough out onto a floured work surface. (Add the 1/8 cup of flour I said to reserve in the recipe instructions)
Knead or fold that flour into the dough until the dough is smooth. Then cut the dough into four even pieces and roll those in to balls. Cover with the plastic wrap and set aside while you prepare the filling. Make sure you finely chop your walnuts and then measure out the required tablespoon.
Using your hands, flatten the balls to be a little larger than the size of your palm. Then press down the sides of the dough so the perimeter of the dough is thinner than the center. Then scoop the filling evenly between the four flattened dough balls.
To seal and roll the dough, bring four points of the dough together and pinch shut. Then bring the rest of the dough together and roll between your palms.
Place the hotteok balls aside and heat up some neutral oil on a pan. You just want a thin layer of oil on the pan. We are very shallow frying these. Make sure the oil is hot and shimmering before you place the hotteok in there. Place the hotteok in the pan (the oil should sizzle) depending on the size of the pan you may only be able to fit one or two in there. Be sure to leave space for when you flatten them.
Cook the hotteok for about a minute to a minute and a half, or until the dough is a crispy golden brown.
Once you flip the hotteok, grab a flat spatula, a burger flipper, or something like that as well as a heavy handled spoon. Place the flat spatula on the dough and use the wooden handle to push on the spatula to flatten the dough. It should be flat like a disc.
Then cook for another minute to minute and half. Flip one more time and cook until the rest of the dough is golden brown. Place the finished hotteok on a bed of paper towels to absorb any grease.
Enjoy the hotteok warm! But be careful not to burn yourself, the filling can be very hot.
If you enjoy these sweet Korean stuffed pancakes, you can enjoy Hotteok with any type of filling! A friend of mine suggested using pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds! You can also do nutella or mozzarella cheese.
Hotteok (Sweet Korean Stuffed Pancakes)
Ingredients
Dough
- ½ Cup Water Lukewarm (95°-110°F)
- ½ tsp Instant Yeast
- 1¼ Cup All Purpose Flour plus ⅛ for flouring surface and kneading
- ½ Tbsp Sugar
- ⅓ tsp Kosher Salt
- ½ Tbsp Vegetable Oil
Filling
- ¼ Cup Dark Brown Sugar
- ½ tsp Cinnamon
- 1 Tbsp Walnut, Finely Chopped
- Vegetable Oil for cooking
Instructions
- Mix together the water and yeast. Set aside while you prep the other ingredients.
- In a large bowl, mix together the flour, white granulated sugar, and kosher salt.
- Add the yeast water to the dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon.
- Add the vegetable oil to the dough and mix properly. It will be sticky but keep mixing!
- Roll the dough into a ball and place into a greased bowl and cover with cling wrap.
- Place the dough aside in a warm/room temperature room for an hour as it rises.
- Once the dough has risen for an hour, punch the gases out of it and roll onto a floured work surface (use the ⅛ cup of flour for this).
- Knead the flour into the dough until fully incorporated and the dough feels smooth. It's okay for it to be sticky.
- Cut the dough into four equal sized lumps and cover with the cling wrap you used earlier. Set aside while you mix the filling and chop the nuts.
- Finely chop the walnuts and then measure out a tablespoon of them. Mix with the cinnamon and dark brown sugar.
- Flatten each of the dough balls slightly in the palm of your hands and then evenly add the stuffing between the four dough pieces.
- Refer to the photos above on how to seal the dough balls. Set them aside.
- Depending on the size of your pans, use enough vegetable oil to thinly cover the bottom of whatever pan you're using. It can be cast iron, enameled cast iron, nonstick, etc. Let it heat up until shimmering.
- Place one or two of your dough balls in the pan (the pan should sizzle). Make sure there's enough room in the pan for the balls to expand as you flatten them.
- Let the balls cook for about a minute to a minute and a half or until the dough is golden, crispy brown.
- Flip the dough and take a flat spatula, a burger flipper, or something like that as well as a heavy handled spoon. Place the flat spatula on the dough and use the wooden handle to push on the spatula to flatten the dough. It should be flat like a disc.
- Cook the hotteok for another minute to minute and half, or until its golden crispy brown.
- Flip the hotteok one more time and let the rest of it cook before removing from the pan and placing on some paper towels.
- Enjoy warm! If you want to make ahead and reheat, you can heat them up on a pan or in a toaster oven!