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:
- 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.
- 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.
- Cover and let it sit while preparing the fillings.
Prepare fillings:
- 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.
- Strain the noodles in cold running water.
- Chop them into small pieces (about ¼ inch long) with a knife or scissors.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Turn down the heat to medium.
- Rub some vegetable oil between your palms and then flatten around a ½ cup of dough on your hand, into a disc.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Transfer to a strainer to drain off any excess oil. Repeat to make with the rest of the dough and the fillings.
- Serve hot for best results.
Maangchi's Amazon picks for this recipe
It's always best to buy Korean items at your local Korean grocery store, but I know that's not always possible so I chose these products on Amazon for that are good quality. See more about how these items were chosen.
Hi Maangchi! Thank you so much for your website, books, and teaching – I just made this delicious dish and your video tutorial was so helpful. They were fun to make!
I made this Maangchi !! And it turned out so good. The dough is soft and crispy, and the filling is delicious ! I added cooked potato into the filling and it was so good <3 I was clumsy and first but now, I am already a Hotteok master ^^ !!! Thank you Maangchi <3
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Adding cooked potato sounds good and interesting! Congratulations!
This recipe looks really yummy!
Can I store any leftovers in the fridge or freezer?
Cheers from Munich / Germany
Which part of Munich?
You know the stores in Albert-Rosshaupter-Str. 13 (Koreanisch-vietnamesische Ecke) and the Red River in Passauer Str.?
Bye, Sanne.
Hi Maangchi! My mom and I have enjoyed so many of your videos (and recipes) together :)
Where did you buy the pan you used in this video? I’ve looked all over but can’t find it anywhere :/
Hey Maangchi, we like your vegetarian recipes! So crispy outside and soft and delicious inside. We love it :-)
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Your yachae-hotteok looks perfect! I should make it for myself soon!
Thank you very much :-)
So yummy! I couldn’t get enough nor could my family! I can’t wait to make this and many more of your recipes.
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Awesome! Cheers to you and your yachae-hotteok! : )
Amazing! I made a little simple sauce of soy, sauce, sugar, and mirin for dipping, too. Eeee!
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yum! : )
Hello maangchi
Can i use rice noodle instead of jhapchae noodle
Hi Maangchi! My Korean Mom ^_^
Do you have recommendation for sauce to put on these? I saw this video and it looks like mushroom, apple, and jujube just sitting soy sauce for a long time?
https://youtu.be/6xQ2dpjFZok?t=6m33s
The street vendor today (who sold them as japchae-hotteok,, which makes sense) had some sauce to put on them while eating that looked a lot like the dipping sauce for pajeon.
Seoul, Subway-station Jongno3ga on the way to Insadong shortly after crossing the street that you take to the right. 1500 Won, 1000 for regular hotteok.
Yes, they were very tasty!
Bye, Sanne.
Gosh, this looks so delicious. I have to try them and will make them soon. I am sure that they will taste as fantastic as they look. Your recipes always do.
Looking good!
We will definitely try that at Namdaemun (and at home when we will be back).
Should go nicely with some Soju… ;-D
Bye, Sanne.