BLACK SESAME HOTTEOK
Remember when I made pizza dough? The next day, my mom went to the grocery store and found pre-made pizza dough for $1… And I’m never going back. I love being able to make recipes from scratch to control what goes in and modify to my own taste, but I’m also a lover of convenience. The amount of effort and time for homemade dough was NOT worth it if you’re looking for something easy and casual. The other convenience of getting pre-made dough? It’s multipurpose and can be used to make hotteok!
Hotteok, or Korean Sweet Pancakes, is a popular winter street food snack made of chewy dough filled with a brown sugar filling, and pan fried to a crispy exterior. If you’re lucky, the edges will catch some of the sugar that has escaped from inside and caramelize. There’s a place called Grace Street Cafe in NYC that is known for their hotteok, and I’ve been missing it lately. More the communal aspect of hanging out with friends in the middle of bustling K-Town than anything, but this dessert connects me back to that environment a little bit. You can find hotteok box mixes at the Korean mart to make at home, but this is a simple, cheap alternative available at any grocery store! I had some leftover black sesame filling from my Matcha Black Sesame Babka, and thought this would be a nice twist to the usual brown sugar and nuts.
Black Sesame Hotteok
Makes 10 pancakes
1/2 cup black sesame filling (cut linked recipe in half)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 pre-made pizza dough (we’ve been enjoying Pizza Buddy’s)
Neutral oil, for frying
To make: Mix black sesame filling and brown sugar to make a granular sugar mix. Separate the pizza dough into 10 pieces. Stretch out one of the small pieces to create a pocket in the middle. Place a spoonful of sesame-sugar mixture into the center and pull edges into the center to cover. Repeat for the other dough pieces. In a medium frying pan, heat up neutral oil over medium heat. Place filled dough mounds onto the pan and fry for 30 seconds and flip once the bottom begins to color. Press the top of the mound with a greased non-stick metal press or back of spatula to flatten into a pancake-like disc. Fry until golden brown, alternating sides as needed. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.
Notes: When handling the dough, use plastic gloves with a little neutral oil spread on them for easy handling and to prevent dough from sticking. If you’re doing a normal version, rather than adding black sesame, all you need is brown sugar for the filling! If you want a recipe for the dough from scratch, Korean Bapsang is always reliable.