The Korean danhobak is a kind of winter squash, known by its Japanese name kabocha in English. In Korean, dan means “sweet,” and hobak means “pumpkin,” and bap means “rice,” so you could translate this dish as “sweet pumpkin rice.” A danhobak is very sweet and fluffy when cooked, so I often steam it and eat it by itself. The texture is very similar to sweet potato.

There are 2 ways to prepare danhobakbap. The first way is to mix rice with chunks of kabocha in a pot, and serve with a seasoning sauce called yangnyeomjang. The second way is to scoop out the insides of the kabocha, fill it with rice and other ingredients, and cook it.

I’m introducing the second version to you today because Halloween is coming soon, so I think you might be interested in making this beautiful and delicious danhobakbap with the kabocha pumpkin intact. If you take danhobakbap to your party, it will be popular because your friends will be excited to open the lid to see the colorful delicious looking rice inside!

Ingredients

Kabocha (1½ kilograms, or about 3 pounds), sweet rice, black sweet rice, Kosher salt, jujubes, pine nuts, raisins, canned chestnuts, soy sauce, vinegar, green onion, green peas, and red chili pepper.

Directions

Let’s make the rice first!

  1. Place 1 cup of sweet rice and 2 tbs of black sweet rice in a small pot.
  2. Add some water to the rice and scrub it by hand a couple of times. Rinse, and then drain the water. Repeat until the rice is clean and the drained water is mostly clear.
  3. Add 1 cup of water and a pinch of salt to the rice and close the lid. Set aside to soak for at least 30 minutes.
  4. After soaking, bring to a boil over medium high heat for about 5-6 minutes.
  5. Open the lid and simmer over low heat with the lid closed for 10 minutes.
  6. Add ⅓ cup of green peas to the hot rice and mix it up. Set aside.

Prepare the kabocha:

  1. Cut off the top to make the lid just like a jack o’ lantern.
  2. Scoop out the insides and set aside.
  3. Remove the pits from 8 dried jujubes. Measure 2 tbs raisins, 2 tbs pine nuts with the tips removed, and ½ cup canned chestnuts, and set aside.
  4. Place the jujubes on the bottom of the kabocha and add the cooked rice, the raisins, and the pine nuts, in that order.
  5. Add more rice on top to fill it out.
  6. Open a can of chestnuts and place them over top of the rice.
    steamed rice in pumpkin
  7. Put the lid back on the danhobak and steam or boil for 30-40 minutes until it’s cooked thoroughly. Wrap it in cheesecloth beforehand so you can easily take it out when it’s ready.
  8. Make sauce by mixing 3 tbs soy sauce, 2 ts vinegar, 1 tbs chopped green onion, and 1 ts red chili pepper in a bowl.

How to serve:

  1. Open the lid of the kabocha and cut it into 4 pieces with a knife.
  2. Transfer each piece to a plate and serve with the sauce.

danhobakbap slice

3 things from rice pot

danhobakbap

Enjoy the recipe!

Posted on Monday, October 17th, 2011. Last updated on June 24, 2023.
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32 Comments:

  1. Ktaara Moskow joined 8/17 & has 1 comment
    Posted August 6th, 2017 at 1:44 pm | or create a profile.

    Ha! It’s really tasty! : )


    See full size image

  2. maddymaddie joined 5/15 & has 2 comments
    Posted June 3rd, 2015 at 2:22 am | or create a profile.

    hi maangchi!
    just saw this and it looks beautiful!
    i would like to know more about your canned chestnuts:
    1. is it water chestnuts? or can i use water chestnuts?
    2. i can only find chestnuts in a bag called “roasted chestnuts” or in a jar, and there is no water in it. can i use that instead?

    i would love to make this soon!
    thank you so much!
    maddie

  3. Blessed Singapore joined 4/10 & has 18 comments
    Posted August 25th, 2012 at 12:36 am | or create a profile.

    The danhobakbap presentation is very attractive. I would also like to know about your 1st recipe which is mix rice with chunks of kabocha in a pot, and serve with a seasoning sauce called yangnyeomjang. Where can I see this recipe?

    Can I use rice cooker to cook this 1st recipe and the sweet rice for the 2nd recipe? If can, how much water should I use when using rice cooker?

    Is there anything that I can replace the chestnut?

    Thank you

  4. keily123 puerto rico joined 10/11 & has 3 comments
    Posted February 16th, 2012 at 9:23 pm | or create a profile.

    Hi Maangchi
    I have a question, you see I don’t like pumpkin very much, so I don’t want to buy a whole squash over here they sell them pretty big and is just 3 people in my house and I really want to make this.
    Is there a way to make the rice with raisins,chestnuts(I love Chestnuts) with everything you put in it, but with out the squash???

  5. chef Benedict Manila, Philippines joined 11/11 & has 45 comments
    Posted December 3rd, 2011 at 4:10 am | or create a profile.

    i love that stuff! perfect for halloween, but its over christmas is coming! :D a black rice inside the pumpkin, next time make yak sik! :D

  6. weirdingway San Diego, CA joined 11/11 & has 8 comments
    Posted November 25th, 2011 at 7:03 am | or create a profile.

    Made this dish today and everyone loved it! One of my guests snapped a quick shot that I’ll upload shortly.

  7. chef Benedict Manila, Philippines joined 11/11 & has 45 comments
    Posted November 21st, 2011 at 2:04 am | or create a profile.

    i guess young pumpkin will do work for this… i love this stuffed pumpkin with rice… i guess i can also make a dessert version or a carbohydrate thing… and its an energy thing… very nutritious and perfect for vegetarian people who doesnt like to eat meat!

  8. Andi Gainesville, FL joined 11/11 & has 1 comment
    Posted November 19th, 2011 at 2:46 pm | or create a profile.

    I’m making this tonight with a local Florida heritage pumpkin! I’ll be posting the photos to my blog greenbasket.wordpress.com.

  9. IvySeoul UK joined 8/11 & has 8 comments
    Posted November 6th, 2011 at 2:15 pm | or create a profile.

    Cooked this for visiting family and it was a hit! Thanks, Maangchi! Here’s a A href=”www.flickr.com/photos/ivyai/6319494170/”>picture.

  10. ckyL 加拿大 joined 9/11 & has 2 comments
    Posted October 31st, 2011 at 4:52 pm | or create a profile.

    Happy Halloween Maangchi!! I love your costume!!

    I had a kabocha pumpkin sitting in my kitchen for quite some time now and I just saw this recipe so I decided to try it out and it turned out delicious!! I love the sweet, fluffy taste of kabocha along w/ the sweet rice =)

    Very yummy indeed :9 Keep up the good work =)

  11. shanconnect Chennai, India joined 10/11 & has 1 comment
    Posted October 26th, 2011 at 1:38 pm | or create a profile.

    Thanks for the great recipe! I love your website.

  12. eatplayluv Seoul joined 10/11 & has 2 comments
    Posted October 24th, 2011 at 4:26 am | or create a profile.

    Love the idea! It reminded me of the rice I had in a BBQ restaurant and I wrote about it here, so follow the link to discover a new Korean food site. Cheers.
    http://www.koreataste.org/lang/en/en/blogging-en/technology-behind-korean-bbq/

  13. snoopcookie Washington joined 9/11 & has 2 comments
    Posted October 20th, 2011 at 9:16 pm | or create a profile.

    Delicious! I made this tonight and took a photo of it in the pan (but I am not sure where ti upload it!). I’m looking forward to eating tomorrow for lunch too! Thank you!

  14. Arual Tarragona, near of Barcelona joined 9/10 & has 7 comments
    Posted October 18th, 2011 at 7:34 am | or create a profile.

    Pretty recipe! I love so much.

    But, one question;

    What can be used as a substitute for jujubes in the recipe?

    In spain only use jujubes for do instruments, I read it. XD

    Thanks ^^

  15. freshi2ice4u los angeles joined 10/11 & has 2 comments
    Posted October 18th, 2011 at 5:37 am | or create a profile.

    I live in Los Angeles and in Ktown there is a restaurant called Ham Ji Park that makes awesome Dweji Galbi, can you show us how to make those? http://www.yelp.com/biz/ham-ji-park-los-angeles-2

  16. lintilla Sydney, Australia joined 8/11 & has 4 comments
    Posted October 18th, 2011 at 4:40 am | or create a profile.

    Oooh, that looks delicious!

    Question – I can’t eat pine nuts. Would you use something else in their place, or just leave them out?

  17. tomco1025 California, USA joined 9/11 & has 11 comments
    Posted October 17th, 2011 at 8:51 pm | or create a profile.

    Ooooooh I LOVE your costume! So cute and pretty! Watching this put me in a very Halloween spirit. This food looks very impressive and I can’t wait to try it. The rice turns such a lovely shade of purple, I was very surprised. Such beautiful presentation too! Now I want to have a party and make all of your Halloween-inspired recipes. It’ll be a Maangchi Mash! Thank you, Maangchi, you always know how to put on a good show and the food always looks delicious!

  18. soko2usa Minnesota joined 4/09 & has 55 comments
    Posted October 17th, 2011 at 4:15 pm | or create a profile.

    Wow, so pretty! The canned chestnuts surprised me – I thought they would be wrinkly like chestnuts right out of the shell.

  19. Toto Bonn, Germany joined 6/10 & has 37 comments
    Posted October 17th, 2011 at 11:45 am | or create a profile.

    It looks soo good. As I mentioned in your hobakjuk recipe, I loove such harvest food witch pzmpkin and squash :)
    I have a question: Can I also use red kuri squash, instead of kabocha? I think, it has a simmilar taste, but not as sweet as this one.
    Thank you very much :)

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