Desserts & Drinks
Songpyeon (Chuseok Rice Cakes)
Prep
60 min
Cook
25 min
Servings
6
Photo: AndrewEick · CC BY
Steps
- 1
Mix the rice flour with salt, then knead in boiling water a little at a time until the dough is smooth and pliable like soft clay.
- 2
Divide the dough and knead a natural coloring into each portion if using; keep each covered with a damp cloth so it doesn't dry.
- 3
Mix the ground sesame seeds with honey to make the filling.
- 4
Pinch off a walnut-sized piece of dough, roll it into a ball, and press a well into the center with your thumb.
- 5
Add a small spoonful of filling, then pinch the opening firmly shut and shape it into a half-moon.
- 6
Line a steamer with pine needles if using, arrange the songpyeon without touching, and steam 20-25 minutes.
- 7
Rinse briefly in cold water to stop the cooking, then brush lightly with sesame oil so they don't stick.
Did you know — Korean culture
The *song* in songpyeon means pine — the rice cakes are traditionally steamed on a bed of pine needles, which perfumes them faintly with resin, stops them sticking together, and historically helped them keep longer. The name comes straight from a step that was genuinely functional.
Kneading rice flour with genuinely boiling water — not warm, not hot-from-the-tap — is what makes this dough workable at all. Rice flour has no gluten to build structure, so it relies on partially gelatinized starch instead, and only water at a true boil gelatinizes enough of it to turn a crumbly powder into a smooth, stretchy dough that can be pinched shut without cracking.
Pinching the seam firmly is the step that decides whether the filling stays inside. Unlike wheat dough, rice dough doesn't really "glue" itself back together — a seam that's only loosely pressed will open during steaming and the honey-sesame filling will run out into the steamer.
The name is the giveaway on the pine needles: song means pine. Steaming songpyeon over a bed of pine needles perfumes the rice cakes faintly with the resin, keeps them from sticking to each other, and traditionally helped them keep longer — a genuinely functional step that also happens to be where the dish got its name.
Troubleshooting
Dough cracking as you shape it? The water wasn't hot enough, or the dough dried out — keep unused portions under a damp cloth and re-knead with a splash more boiling water.
Filling leaking during steaming? The seam wasn't pinched firmly enough, or the cake was overfilled — a small spoonful is genuinely enough.
Rice cakes sticking together? Rinse them in cold water right after steaming and brush with sesame oil; skipping that leaves the surface starch tacky.