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Yugwa (Korean puffed glutinous-rice crackers)
Puffed glutinous-rice crackers glazed with rice syrup and rolled in puffed rice and sesame
Yugwa are the light, airy crackers piled on trays at Seollal, the Lunar New Year, and given in gift boxes for Chuseok and weddings across Korea. A dough of glutinous rice is steamed and pounded until stretchy, rolled thin, cut and dried until hard, then fried slowly so each piece swells to several times its size into a crisp, hollow puff. A brush of rice syrup and a coating of puffed rice or sesame finish them. They melt on the tongue, crunchy but almost weightless, gently sweet and toasty. Serve with green tea or barley tea. Yugwa never used egg: the sticky starch of glutinous rice, steamed and pounded, traps air and binds the dough, and the rice syrup glues on the coating. Some cooks add rice wine to the dough; this version uses plain water and needs no alcohol. Chef's tip: dry the cut pieces until they snap like a cracker before frying; the common mistake is frying them half-dried, and then they stay flat and chewy instead of puffing.
- Total time
- 720 min
- Difficulty
- hard
- Serves
- 8
Ingredients
For the crackers
- 10 ½ oz glutinous rice flour
- ½ tsp salt
- ¾ cup warm waterroughly
- 1 oz potato starchfor dusting
- 4 ¼ cups neutral oilfor frying
To coat
- 5 ½ oz rice syrupor light corn syrup
- 2 ⅛ oz puffed rice
- 1 ⅜ oz toasted sesame seedswhite and black mixed
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Method
0/11 doneStep 1: Mix 10 ½ oz glutinous rice flour and ½ tsp salt in a bowl and add ¾ cup warm water gradually, kneading to a smooth dough like soft clay that holds when squeezed.
Step 2: Line a steamer with a damp cloth, spread the dough on it in a 2 cm layer and steam over boiling water for 25–30 minutes, until it turns translucent all the way through with no white patches.
28 minStep 3: Tip the hot dough into a sturdy bowl and pound and beat it with a wet wooden spoon or the dough hook of a mixer for 8–10 minutes, until very smooth, elastic and full of tiny air bubbles.
10 minStep 4: Dust a board thickly with 1 oz potato starch. Roll the warm dough to 3 mm thick and cut into 1 x 4 cm strips, dusting with more starch so they do not stick.
Step 5: Lay the strips on a rack in a single layer and leave in a warm, dry place for 8–10 hours, turning once, until completely hard and brittle; one should snap cleanly in half.
540 minStep 6: Heat half of 2 cups neutral oil in a pan to about 200°F, and the other half of 2 cups neutral oil in a second pan to 325°F.
Step 7: Drop a few strips into the cooler oil and roll them gently with a spoon for 1–2 minutes, until they begin to swell and soften.
2 minStep 8: Move them straight into the hotter oil and keep rolling them for 1–2 minutes, until they puff to three or four times their size, crisp and still pale white. Do not let them colour.
2 minStep 9: Drain on kitchen paper and repeat with the rest, keeping both oils at temperature.
20 minStep 10: Warm 5 ½ oz rice syrup in a wide pan over a low heat until runny. Mix 2 ⅛ oz puffed rice and 1 ⅜ oz toasted sesame seeds on a plate.
2 minStep 11: Brush or toss each cracker in the warm syrup, then roll in the puffed rice and sesame to coat. Leave on a rack for 30 minutes to set; store airtight for up to 2 weeks.
30 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 340 kcal
- Protein
- 4 g
- Carbs
- 55 g
- Fat
- 12 g
- Fibre
- 2 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does yugwa (Korean puffed glutinous-rice crackers) take?
- About 720 minutes in total: 660 minutes to prepare and 60 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 8 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- Can I make it ahead?
- Yes. It keeps well, so you can cook it earlier in the day or the day before and reheat it.
- What can I use instead of puffed rice?
- Any long-grain rice, same amount.
- What can I use instead of toasted sesame seeds?
- Poppy seeds or finely chopped pumpkin seeds, same amount.
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