Songpyeon

About the dish

Osaek songpyeon are rice cakes tinted five colors with gardenia, mugwort, omija and more, the traditional obangsaek palette carrying wishes for well-being and abundance. Steamed over a bed of pine needles at Chuseok, they are the fragrant signature rice cake of the harvest festival.

Key ingredient

Rice (ssal) — Korea's staple grain and main energy source; easy to digest with B vitamins for a balanced meal. Autumn harvest, mainly from Icheon & Yeoju.

Ingredients

10 cups non-glutinous rice, 1/2 cup gardenia water (2 gardenia pods, 10 tbsp water), 1/2 cup omija water (30 g omija, 10 tbsp water), 1/2 cup grape juice, 1/2 cup mugwort water (3 tbsp mugwort powder, 4 tbsp water), 2 tbsp salt, 2 tbsp sesame oil <Filling> 2 cups toasted sesame salt, 1 cup ground pine nuts, 1/2 cup sugar

Simple recipe

1. Wash the rice clean 3-4 times and soak it in water for 8-12 hours.
2. Drain the soaked rice in a basket, grind it with the salt into flour and sift.
3. Steep the gardenia pods in water for gardenia water, soak the omija about a day for omija water, and stir the mugwort powder into water for mugwort water.
4. Divide the rice flour into 5 portions and knead each with hot gardenia water, omija water, grape juice, mugwort water or plain water.
5. Mix the sesame salt, ground pine nuts and sugar evenly to make the filling.
6. Shape songpyeon in five colors by filling the dough from step 4 with the filling from step 5, decorating the white ones with petals and stems made from the tinted dough.
7. Steam the songpyeon 20-25 min once the steam rises, rinse them in cold water and brush with sesame oil.

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