Hotteok filled with vegetables and noodles

Today I’m going to show you how to make a Korean street snack called yachae-hotteok. Yachae means “vegetables” in Korean, and hotteok are pancakes usually stuffed with sweet stuff and nuts. But in this case they’re filled with savory noodles and chopped vegetables.

I love the crunchiness of the outer crust, the yeasty fluffiness of the inner crust, and the delicious, savory fillings inside. You’ll love it from the first bite, and if you like croquettes you’ll really love yachae-hotteok.

The first time I tried one of these was just last year, in 2015. Many of my readers have requested the recipe, but I had never heard of yachae-hotteok. It’s either a new thing in Korea or just something I never encountered when I lived there. Of course I had regular hotteok – the sweet version – many times in my life, and when I heard about yachae-hotteok I wondered if a version made of vegetables could be any good.

So when I went to Seoul last year, I sought out a yachae-hotteok vendor in Namdaemun market that was recommended to me by a few of my readers. My first bite of the yachae-hotteok was delicious enough for me to decide to make a video about it. I knew that millions of my readers should be able to learn how to make such a delicious hotteok, no matter where they are in the world!

It was incredibly delicious, and I could watch the vendor and see that it was very simple to make.

I went to the market again on another day and tasted yachae-hotteok from a different vendor, this one with a long line in front. This time I was more serious to see what was in their bucket of fillings. Yes, I burned each ingredient into my brain. Starch noodles were cooked, chopped, and seasoned with soy sauce just like the noodles in japchae, and the vegetables were all chopped too, and raw when they went into the dough.

“Ok, I can make it!” My heart was beating and I was eager to develop the recipe and share it with my lovely readers! : )

One great thing about this yachae-hotteok is that unlike the traditional sweet hotteok, you don’t have to eat it right away, you can serve it several hours later if you have to. Of course fresh and hot is best, but even several hours later it’s still fluffy and savory.

If you make this delicious yachae-hotteok you can compete with the best Namdaemun market street vendor! Make it for your family and friends, and let me know what they say!

Ingredients

Makes 9 to 10 yachae-hotteok

For dough:

• 1 cup of warm water
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 1 packet (¼ ounce: about 2 teaspoons) of dry yeast
• ½ teaspoon of kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
• 2 cups of all purpose flour

For filling:

• 3 ounces (85 grams) sweet potato starch noodles (dangmyeon)
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 3 ounces Asian chives (buchu), cut into small pieces
• 3 ounces carrot, chopped into small pieces
• 1 medium size onion, chopped into small chunks
• Cooking oil (vegetable or corn oil)

Directions

Make dough:

1. Combine the warm water, sugar, and dry yeast in a large bowl and stir well until the yeast is dissolved. Add salt and 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and stir well.
2. Add flour and mix it for about 1 minute with a wooden spoon, until the dough looks smooth. Cover and let it sit for 1 to 1½ hours until it doubles in size. Knead it to remove any gas bubbles in the dough.
3. Cover and let it sit while preparing the fillings.

Prepare fillings:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the potato starch noodles (dangmyeon). Stir it with a wooden spoon so that the noodles don’t stick to each other. Cook the noodles for about 6 minutes over medium high heat. If it boils over, open the lid and stir the noodles a few times, then let it cook with the lid closed. To see if they’re finished, take a sample to test if the noodles are cooked. There shouldn’t be any hard stuff in the noodle when you chew it.
2. Strain the noodles in cold running water.
3. Chop them into small pieces (about ¼ inch long) with a knife or scissors.
4. Heat up a pan with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil. Add the noodles and stir fry for a minute, then add the soy sauce, sugar, and ground black pepper. Keep stirring until the noodles look translucent and shiny. Add sesame oil and transfer to a bowl.
5. Add the carrot, onion, Asian chives (buchu), and mix everything well.

Let’s cook!

The dough is very sticky, so prepare some vegetable oil in a small bowl to put your hands in from time to time, to prevent the dough from sticking to them while you work.

1. Put about 1 cup of vegetable oil in a large skillet and heat it up until it reaches 350° F. To test it, you can drop a small piece of dough into the oil, and if several small bubbles are popping up, it’s hot enough.
2. Turn down the heat to medium.
3. Rub some vegetable oil between your palms and then flatten around a ½ cup of dough on your hand, into a disc.
4. Put some filling into the center of the dough with a spoon. Seal the edges with your fingers and make a nice round ball, as best you can. The dough is very sticky and soft, so if you add too much filling, it won’t be easy to seal.
   
5. Put it in the skillet with the sealed edges down. About 30 seconds later, flip it over with a spatula and press it down to about a 4 inch round disc.
   
6. Let it cook for a couple of minutes. Keep flipping the hotteok for another a couple of minutes until all sides are crunchy and golden brown.
7. Transfer to a strainer to drain off any excess oil. Repeat to make with the rest of the dough and the fillings.
8. Serve hot for best results.