Today I will be introducing you to a traditional Korean dessert that is thought to have slightly medicinal properties because of it's ingredients. The dish is called Yaksik 약식. It is a sweet Korean dish made by steaming glutinous rice, and mixing with chestnuts, jujubes, and pine nuts. It is seasoned with honey or brown sugar, sesame oil, soy sauce, and sometimes cinnamon.
Traditionally it is eaten on Jeongwol Daeboreum (정월대보름), a Korean holiday which falls on every 15 January in the lunar calendar, but also for weddings and hwangap festivities. But it is still really nice to have all year around, why wait for the festivities?
Yaksik got its name due to the use of honey in its ingredients. According to the etymology book Ah'un Gakbi (hangul:아언각비, hanja:雅言覺非) written in early 19th century Joseon, it is noted that honey was commonly called as yak (medicine). Thus honey buckwheat wine was called yakju (약주), honey rice was called yakban (약반, old word for yaksik), and fried honey ricecake was called yakgwa (약과).
Records of yaksik date back to Samguk Yusa, written in the 13th century. Legend says that King Soji of Silla headed on a journey on the 15th of January, when a crow alerted him of danger. The King saved himself from a potential revolt thanks to the crow's warning and the day of January 15 was designated as a day of remembrance thereafter. Glutinous rice was put up as an offering during the commemorative rites, which became the origin of yaksik.
The adding of pine nuts, chestnuts, red dates, honey, and oil were added in the Goryeo era. Yaksik is also mentioned in various books from the Joseon period such as Dongguk Sesigi(동국세시기), Yeolyang Seisigi(열양세시기), Dong'guk Yeoji Seungram (동국여지승람). In Yeolyang Seisigi, it is said that envoys to China shared yaksik with the people in Yeonkyung, and most enjoyed the dish.
It's has been a while since I have done a history post of the dishes that I am going to post about, but I think I can get used to it....
And now, to move on to the recipe. There is a bit of work involved but the reward is much greater.
Ingredients
4 C sweet rice
2 C water
(1 1/3 to 1 1/2 C sugar + 3 T honey) OR (1 1/2 C dark brown sugar)
4 T soy sauce
4 T sesame oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon powder (optional)
1 1/2 C peeled chestnuts (uncooked and it can be from a can or fresh)
1 C dried jujubes (aka dried red dates)
2 T pine nuts
You need: a pressure cooker (pressure rice cooker works best), 8×8 cake pan or 12 or more cupcake liners or remekins.
Method
1. Measure the sweet rice and soak in cold water for 1 hour (soak 5 hours if you are cooking in the microwave instead of a pressure cooker).
2. Measure and prepare the pine nuts, chestnuts and jujubes. Drain the syrup from the canned chestnuts and set aside. Canned chestnuts work best but you can also use uncooked peeled chestnuts.
3. Wash the dried jujubes, making sure the dust in between the wrinkles are completely washed away. Dry them with a towel. If they are seeded, cut around the seed. If they are seedless, one less thing to do! Cut the flesh into small squares (1/2 inch) or strips.
4. Save the seeds and make some jujube water by boiling and then simmering the seeds in 2 cups of water for 10 min. Now you have jujube tea (대추차 daechucha) which you can drink with some honey and also use some to cook the rice later. Jujube water adds much more flavor.
5. After the sweet rice has soaked for an hour, drain the water from the rice. Cook the rice in a pressure rice cooker by adding 2 C of water (use 1/2 C of the jujube water from step 2 if you can) and follow the instructions for cooking regular white rice. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can cook the rice in the microwave – add about 1 C of water and cook on high for 10 minutes.
6. When the rice is cooked (the rice will be very sticky but should not be too mushy), add the sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, salt and cinnamon powder. Mix the rice well but not too much because it will become too starchy. Stir only until the rice is evenly seasoned.
7. Add the jujubes, chestnuts and pine nuts. Fold them into the rice.
8. Put everything back in the pressure cooker and if you have a ‘steam’ option, steam for 20 minutes. If you don’t have a ‘steam’ option, just choose the shortest rice cook time and cook it again.
9. You are ready to serve Yaksik now. Fill a 8×8 cake pan with the Yaksik and let it cool. Once it’s cool to touch, cover it to keep it from drying. Cut it into small squares or 2/3 in thick slices and serve. Again, when it’s cooled, cover with some plastic wrap.
And there you have it a delicious traditional Korean dessert that you can attempt to make this weekend. But I will warn you that it requires a lot of time, so maybe plan ahead which weekend you want to try the dish out.
So that is it from me this week. I hope that you all stay happy, healthy and safe until I post again next time.
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