using a pottery clay technique to make colorful korean rice cakes
happy chuseok friends!
for my korean-american friends, did you grow up celebrating chuseok growing up, or did you celebrate american thanksgiving only, or did you celebrate both? my family semi-celebrated chuseok to the extent of buying songpyeon (rice cakes filled with a sweet filling) at the korean market and calling it a day.
i don’t have any recollections of the chuseok feast and family gathering that merman describes his mom and aunts over in korea prepare for every year, but it sounds just as large of an ordeal that my korean-american family makes to celebrate thanksgiving.
for those of you who aren’t familiar with korean holidays, chuseok is a harvest festival that takes place during the early fall to celebrate abundance and to give thanks. for chuseok, merman’s family will typically make a trip down to their hometown to visit their ancestors’ gravesites, and share a large meal together with songpyeon (rice cakes) and jeon (korean pancakes).
the korean-american in me was dying to know what it’s like to partake in these annual korean traditions, so i made these songpyeon rice cakes this year and did it in true millennial fashion (aka make it colorful and perhaps matching with your kitchen tile backsplash!).
as you can see from the pictures, i went a little nuts with the process by using a pottery clay technique called nerikomi or agateware. this process was pretty involved but i stuck with it, and i’m in love. i’m kind of curious about nerikomi/agateware-ifying everything i eat now.
anywhosers, i’ll be away from my kitchen/ny for a few months because i’m headed to denver, la, sf, and…….KOREA!!!!!! while i’m traveling, i’ll still have some things coming your way on the blog because i’ll be catching up on all the unedited videos and perhaps start dabbling in silly tiktok ideas that i’ve had in queue for the past few months.
hope you all are doing well, and if you have a free weekend to play with rice flour and dried fruit powder, there’s instructions if you scroll down!
xo, christine
terrazzo SONGPYEON
makes 25-30 songpyeon rice cakes
ingredients
rice cake
2 cups non-glutinous rice flour (example)
1 cup hot water
food coloring
crushed dried fruits and tea:
yellow: mango (2 tsp)
pink: strawberries (2 tsp)
purple: blueberries (1 tsp)
green: matcha (1 tsp)
filling
4 tbs crushed sesame seeds
2 tbs black sesame seeds
3 tbs brown sugar
5 tbs honey
2 tsp maldon salt
topping
sesame oil
special equipment:
steamer basket
coffee grinder or mortar & pestle
rolling pin
notes
food coloring prep
using a clean coffee grinder or mortar & pestle, grind dried fruits into a fine powder, run through a sieve, and set aside in separate bowls
filling prep
in a small bowl, mix together the sesame seeds, brown sugar, honey, and salt into a bowl
rice cake prep
sift 2 cups of rice flour into a large bowl
drizzle 1/4 cup of hot water into the bowl, stir slowly using a chopstick or fork, and incorporate as much of the water into the flour. in 1/4 cup increments, continue drizzling in hot water and incorporating it into the dough
when the water reaches a temperature that is safe to the touch, begin kneading the water into the flour. knead until all of the dry bits become incorporated and a ball forms. this takes about 300 kneads. feel free to add in a little more water along the way if needed. the dough should feel like fresh play-dough, pliable without cracking at the surface
cut the formed ball into 8 even pieces, set 6 aside in a damp napkin. the other 2 pieces will be used for the colored dough
colored dough prep
divide the 2 white pieces from the last step in half so you now have 4. 1 for each color: yellow, pink, purple, and green. this step is totally optional and you can experiment with different colors/ingredients just as long as they aren’t too wet
drop a tiny bit of water into each bowl with the colored powders, and mix until you have a colored paste
knead each of the colors into the white dough until the colors are evenly incorporated. roll into a shape of a ball
one color at a time, divide the colored ball into 4 even pieces and carefully roll the pieces out using your palm until each piece is about 10 inches long. they don’t have to be perfect! lay the pieces out flat on a damp towel and cover
terrazzo dough assembly
on a clean surface, using a rolling pin or a pasta maker if you are so fortunate, roll out 2 of the white dough pieces into a sheet roughly 10 inches by 2.5 inches. this doesn’t have to be perfect!
lay 2-3 colored pieces on one layer of white dough in the previous step and gently press into the surface. layer the second white sheet atop and gently press so that the layer is hugging the colored edges. every so often, carefully peel the bottom layer off your working surface just to make sure that it’s not stuck. if there is sticking, coat your hand with corn starch
repeat the two steps above until you’re down to your last white piece and last colored piece. place your last colored piece in the center and layer the last white piece on top. press around the last piece. gently fold the bottom sides up into a u-shape and slowly roll your masterpiece into a cylinder shape. watch the sides for cracking! if you do see some cracks begin to form, take a little water on your fingertips and smooth out the cracks.
cover the dough with a damp towel
songpyeon assembly
using a fishing wire or a clean knife cut each of the ends off. slowly cut 1/3 inch off the edge of the dough to reveal your terrazzo pattern! using a rolling pin, flatten the dough into a flatter circle piece, scoop in 1 tsp of the filling and carefully fold into the shape your heart desires. i folded it into a half moon shape
set aside on a platter and cover with a damp towel
repeat steps 1 and 2 with friend, family, roommate, neighbor, etc. until you’ve run out of the colored dough
songpyeon cooking and serving
bring a pot of water that fits your steamer up to a boil
line your steamer with parchment paper, pine needles, or whatever you have at home. place your songpyeon in the steamer with a little space in between each. steam for 20 minutes. turn stove off, and pour ice cold water over the rice cakes
remove the rice cakes from the steamer, arrange on your serving platter, and brush a little bit of sesame oil atop to prevent sticking
hooray!!! YOu’re done!!! :)
