Korean-style mochi rice cake

This is my first attempt to make the same recipe with 2 videos in English and Korean. Yaho! : )
I can’t wait to share this delicious sweet and chewy rice cake with my readers and my fellow Koreans.

Chapssaltteok used to be called “mochi” among Koreans, but these days everybody calls this particular kind of rice cake “chapssaltteok.” The word mochi is a Japanese word that simply means “rice cake.”

Making chapssaltteok with a microwave oven must have been invented by someone in the States a long time ago. When I came to the USA about 20 years ago, many Korean housewives here were already making homemade chapssalddeok with a microwave oven. It was delicious but I always felt like something was missing. Yes! It was the lack of chewiness!

One day I found out how to solve this problem by pounding the cooked rice cake dough when it came out of the microwave. Voila! It worked perfectly! I was almost crying from happiness. Maybe I’m not the first person to use this method, but I want to share this quick and easy way with as many people as possible, including Koreans who don’t understand English.

The only difference between the English and Korean recipes is the color. The English version is pink chapssaltteok, created with a small dot of red food coloring. The Korean version is green, created with 1 ts of green tea powder. You can make 3 different colors: White (no coloring at all), pink (with red food coloring), and green (with green tea powder).

Put the chapssaltteok in a small box (4½ x 4 ½ inches: 11.5 x 11.5 cm) and give it to a someone special! The person who gets your rice cake made with your love will be instantly impressed!

Enjoy the recipe!

Pink Chapssaltteok

Ingredients

For sweet red bean filling:
red beans, sugar, kosher salt, rice syrup, vanilla extract.

For rice cake:
sweet rice flour, sugar, kosher salt, red food coloring, starch powder.

Directions

Cooking time: 2 hours.

Make sweet red bean filling:

1. Wash and drain 1 cup of dried red beans (azuki beans) and place them in a thick bottomed pot.
2. Add 3 cups of water and bring to a boil over medium high heat for 10 minutes with the lid closed.
3. Lower the heat and simmer for about 1½ hours.
   If the beans haven’t softened after 1½ hours, add more water and cook over low heat until they are soft and can be well mashed.
4. Mash the beans with a wooden spoon (or food processor) until smooth.
5. Put the beans back into the pot and add  ¾ cup brown sugar, ¼ ts kosher salt, 1 ts vanilla extract, and 2-3 tbs rice or corn syrup.
6. Stir with a wooden spoon over low heat until the sugar is dissolved and the paste looks a little shiny.
7. Divide the paste into 2 even halves. Keep one half of the paste in the fridge or freezer for future use.
8. Divide the remaining paste into 8 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Set them aside.

Make rice cake with a microwave oven

1. Place 1 cup of sweet rice flour (Mochiko powder), ¼ ts kosher salt, 1 tbs sugar in a microwave-safe bowl.
2. In a bowl add a drop of pink food coloring to ¾ cup water and mix well.
3. Add the pink water to the rice flour mixture and mix it well with a spoon. Push the dough to the center of the bowl.
   
4. Cover the dough with Saran wrap and cook on high for 3 minutes in the microwave.
5. Remove the rice cake from the microwave and mix it with a wooden spoon for about 20 seconds.
6. Cover it with the Saran wrap again and put it back in the microwave for another minute.
7. Knead the hot rice cake with a wooden spoon vigorously in a circular motion about 100 times to make it chewy.
   
8. Spread ¼ cup of starch powder on your cutting board and put the rice cake on it.
9. Shape into a smooth 4×5 inch rectangle (10 cm x 12 cm) with wet hands and turn it over.
10. Cut the rectangle into 8 even sized pieces with a wooden knife or spatula, and cover with Saran wrap to keep them from getting dried out.
11. Take one piece of rice cake and flatten it into a round circle about 2½ inch (6.5 cm) in diameter.
12. Add a sweet red bean ball to the middle of the piece of rice cake. Pull the rice cake over the ball and seal it by pinching the edges with your fingers.
    *tip: Use starch powder to keep the rice cake from sticking to your fingers.
13. Repeat this until you’ve made 8 pieces of chapssaltteok.

Q and A
Q: Maangchi, the number of the sweet red bean pieces is 16 in your sweet red bean paste recipe and I can make only 8 rice cakes. What shall I do with the leftover sweet bean paste?

A: Make another batch of 8 chapssaltteok! Or Make green chapssaltteok with green tea powder! (Korean version). Only difference is to mixing ¾ cup water with 1 ts green tea powder instead of pink food coloring. Or keep the leftover in the fridge or freeze. You can keep it in the fridge up to 1 week.

녹차 찹쌀떡 (Green tea chapssaltteok)

안녕하세요, 처음으로 한국어 영어 비디오 조리법을 두개의 비디오를 통해 올립니다. 이 달콤하고 맛있는 찹쌀떡 조리법을 한국인들에게도 알려드리고싶어서 한국어로 비디오를 올릴 생각을 하게 되었어요. 이 두비디오 차이점은 오직 한가지, 색깔이예요. 영어버전은 분홍색 찹쌀떡으로 식용색소를 이용했고 한국어버전은 녹차가루를 이용하여 예쁜 녹색 찹쌀떡을 만들었어요.

전자렌지를 이용하여 찹쌀떡 (옛날에는 모찌로 불렀음)을 만드는 방법은 아주 오래전부터 이곳 미국에서 한국인 이민자들 사이에 알려진 방법이예요. 제가 미국에 약 20년전에 처음 왔을때 처음으로 전자렌지이용한 찹쌀떡을 먹어봤거든요? 그런데 한가지 아쉬운점은 쫄깃거리지 않는다는 점이었어요. 어느날 전자렌지에서 꺼낸 떡을 작은 절구에 넣고 쳐보았더니 너무 너무 쫄깃하게 변하는것있죠? 너무 흥분되어 거의 눈물이 나올정도! : ) 그 이후로 인절미도 만들고 이렇게 찹쌀떡을 만들고 있어요.

단팥만 만들어두면 언제든지 맛있는 찹쌀떡을 10분 이내로 만들수 있어요. 그리고 작은 상자에 넣어서 선물도 한번 해보세요. 정성이 가득한 찹쌀떡을 받으시는 분들 얼마나 행복할까요!

재료:
팥, 황설탕, 물엿 (또는 쌀엿), 소금, 바닐라액, 물, 찹쌀가루, 녹차가루, 전분가루

만드는법:
총소요시간: 약 2시간

팥소만들기: (1시간 30분)

1. 팥 1컵을 씻어서 물기 빼고 바닥이 두꺼운 냄비에 넣고 10분 끓인다.
2. 불을 최대한 약불로 줄이고 약 1시간 20-30분동안 뜸들이듯이 끓인다.
   * 팥이 쉽게 주걱으로 으깨질정도로 삶어져야하는데  만약 더 삶아야한다면 물을 조금 더 넣고 계속 뜸들이듯이 끓이면 됨.
3. 황설탕 ¾컵, 바닐라액 1티스푼, 소금 ¼ 티스푼, 물엿 또는 쌀엿  2-3 테이블스푼을 넣고 약불에서 설탕이 모두 녹을때까지 저어준다.
4. 다만들어진 팥소를 반으로 나누고 나누어진 반은 다시 8개로 균등하게 분할하여 양손으로 둥글려서 공모양으로 만들어둔다. 나머지 반은 냉장고에 보관하거나 냉동실에 보관한다.

떡만들기

1. 전자렌지 사용가능한 그릇에 찹쌀가루 1컵, 설탕 1테이블스푼, 소금 ¼ 티스푼을 넣고 물 ¾ 컵에 녹차가루 1 티스푼을 잘 섞어서 찹쌀가루와 함께 밥주걱으로 잘 섞어준다.
2. 플라스틱 랩으로 약간 틈을 두고 덮는다. 전자렌지에 3분간 조리한뒤 꺼내어 밥주걱으로 골고루 약 20초동안 섞는다.
3. 다시 플라스틱랩을 덮고 전자렌지에 넣고 1분 조리한후 꺼내어서 밥주걱으로 약 100번정도 원을그리듯이 치댄다.
4. 쫄깃하게 변형된 떡을 전분이 뿌려진 도마에 옮긴후 양손에 물을 발라 떡모양을 약 10x 12 cm 크기의 사각형으로 잡아준다.
5. 나무칼로 8등분한후 랩으로 덮어두고 한개씩 꺼내어 찹쌀떡을 만든다.
   떡조각을 손으로 평평하게 한다음 만들어둔 팥소를 넣고 잘 아무린다.

질문! 조리법에 팥소는 16개인데 떡은 8개?

대답:
1. 찹쌀가루 1 컵으로 8개 더 만들면 됨. 분홍색 찹쌀떡 만들어보세요 (영어버전) : )
2. 아니면 남은 8개 용량 팥소를 냉장고나 냉동실에 보관하고 필요할때 꺼내어 쓰세요!