I may be a little biased here but hotteok is probably one of the best Korean street snacks.
Hear me out.
Hotteok is a type of filled pancake and it was brought into Korea from China during the 19th Century.
The main ingredients of the pancake mix are flour while the filling is made from brown sugar and cinnamon. The combination of brown sugar and cinnamon makes hotteok taste very similar to churros (which is another snack I love a lot).
The dough is filled, shaped into a ball and pan-fried. During the process of pan-frying, the cook will flatten the ball into a pancake. Once the outside is golden brown, it is ready to be served.
The outside is crispy while the inside is slightly chewy. The brown sugar will be melted and combines well with the cinnamon.
There is a special variation of hotteok found in Busan called Seed Hotteok (씨앗 호떡).
To make Seed Hotteok, the cook will cut open the pancake from the side after pan-frying and fill it with different kinds of “seeds” like peanuts or sunflower seeds.
Dying to try this snack but not coming to Korea any time soon? Go to your local Asian supermarket and you might be able to find hotteok mix that you can buy and make at home!
Which kind of hotteok do you think you will like? My answer: Yes.
