Songpyeon is a traditional rice cake made during the Korean autumn harvest festival, Chuseok 추석 which is also known as Hangawi 한가위.

It falls on the 15^th day of the 8^th month of the lunar calendar-the same day many Asian countries celebrate a Mid-Autumn Festival.

Families gathered enjoy time together and give thanks to their ancestors for the plentiful harvest.
These little rice cakes are commonly stuffed with sweet fillings.

Song translates as pine tree and Pyeon means cake. 
The name songpyeon comes from the pine leaves because the cakes traditionally steamed on a bed of pine needles which gives them a distinctive taste and the fragrant smell of fresh pine trees.

There are many options for colouring Songpyeon. Traditionally, Koreans often use natural colouring  from vegetable and fruit such as Mugwort for green colour or Raspberry for pink.

Recently, they use multiple different colours using coloured powders. You can also use store-bought food gel colouring if you want.

In this recipe, I will show you how to make homemade natural food colouring.
I prefer to make my own because it’s healthier and also fun to make.

There are a lot of ingredients that you can use as sources for natural food colouring.
I will use blueberries for purple, spinach for green, strawberries for pink and pumpkin for yellow.

You also can use other vegetable of fruit such as carrot juice for orange, Raspberry for deep pink or maybe steamed purple sweet potato for purple; the sky is the limit.

As for the fillings, the most traditional include three types – Sesame, Beans and Chestnut.
Sweetened bean and other fillings are quite popular, but sesame seed filling is always be my favourite.

For the roasted sesame, I highly recommend to use store-bought one rather than a homemade that you roast yourself; you really can tell the difference.
One of the brand that I love is this Japanese white roasted sesame seeds which has a stronger nutty flavour.

Other ingredient for the sesame filling is this roasted Soy Bean Powder or Kinako.
This will gives a more intense roasted flavour to the filling; but if you can’t find it, you can just omit it. 

I also will add some Maple Syrup or Honey to the sesame seeds. This syrup will give the filling a little bit of moisture, makes the sesame stick together so much easier to handle when stuffing the Songpyeon

For the dough, the most difficult ingredient that you’ll have to find for making Songpyeon would be the rice flour which is called Mepssalgaru.

The flour is made from Short-Grain Rice that has been soaked overnight and ground. It’s really different from regular rice flour, glutinous rice flour or sweet rice flour.
I found it also hard to find and not easy to make.

In this recipe, I will show you how to make easy rice flour for the Songpyeon dough by combining regular rice flour and glutinous rice flour.

For the flour, I highly suggest to use Thailand brand for better results. Try to find the unbleached one coz bleached flour will produce a slightly bitter taste and unpleasant smell on your final cake.

And please note, it is very important to use really hot boiling water when making Songpyeon dough to create more chewy texture.

Traditional way to shape these rice cakes is to make them into half-moon shape.
Actually, there are many ways to folding and shaping Songpyeon dough.

By using these fondant or clay tools and small shapes cutter you can create many beautiful and intricate design for your Songpyeon.

Bellow, I will show you how to make basic round shape for Songpyeon.
From this basic shape you can create all sort of different design; for example the traditional half-moon shape.

These following steps are important. If you do follow these steps, your Songpyeon will turned out pretty, it’s not gonna break or leaking.

You can decorate the half-moon shape Songpyeon with various beautiful flower shapes. It’s not necessary to buy a small shape cutter, you can actually create your own design manually by hand.

I like to make big flower shapes with these purple and pink dough or you can mimicking some fruit shapes if you want; that would be lovely.

Don’t be confused if you have left over dough, you can mix 2 or even 3 different colours and create a very unique Songpyeon.

Please note that the colour will be darker after steaming, so don’t worry too much if you see that your coloured dough is a bit pale.

For the steamer; here we use a layer of cotton steamer cloth for simplicity.
Don’t forget to sprinkle some granulated sugar on top of the cotton cloth so the Songpyeon won’t stick to it.

If you use metal or plastic steamer, make sure that you cover the lid with a piece of cloth; so the water condensation during steaming won’t ruin the look of your Songpyeon.

You know, an old Korean anecdote says that the person who makes beautifully-shaped Songpyeon will meet a good spouse or give birth to a beautiful baby 👶 .

After steaming, we need to rinse Songpyeon immediately with ice water in order to maintain their chewy texture.

And then, using your hands or small brush coat them lightly with sesame oil.

This oil will prevent from sticking to each other and also adds a fragrant aroma.

As you can see, there are some rice cakes that shaped look like small pumpkin, which is so adorable.
They are actually popular at Chungcheong Province which is known for the pumpkin Songpyeon.

Any type of Songpyeon is a good one; in my opinion, these rice cakes are best eaten while it’s still warm but you can certainly enjoy them at room temperature.

Yummy…. these beautiful soft chewy texture with the fragrant sweet filling inside.

Songpyeon not particularly sweet and addictive chewy bite, they are the one of Korean dessert that I really love.

Feel free to be creative with what you mix with the dough for more colours and what to put in for your fillings! 

추석잘보내세요 (chuseok jal bonaeseyo) , that’s how you say it in Korean 😍
Happy Chuseok everyone! 

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do, I hope you learn something.
Love you All and I’ll see you in the next recipe…. ❤️
Take care Everyone!

Songpyeon 송편 (Chuseok 추석 Korean Rice Cake)
Yield: 18-20 pieces
Active time: 2 hour
Total time: 2 ½ hours

INGREDIENTS
Natural Food Colouring:

• Pink (150 g Strawberries)
• Purple (150 g Blueberries)
• Green (150 g Spinach, 120 g Water)
• Yellow (150 g Pumpkin)
• 1 tsp Vinegar, 1 tsp Salt and water (for Water Bath)
  

Sesame Filling (for 1 batch dough):

• 35 g Roasted White Sesame Seeds
• A pinch of Salt
• 1 tbs Granulated Sugar
• 1 tsp Soybean Powder (Kinako)
• 1 tbs Maple Syrup or Honey

Chesnut/ Pine Nut Filling (for 1 batch dough):

• 1/2 cup Cooked Chesnut/ Raw Pine Nut
• A pinch of Salt
• 1/2 tbs Granulated Sugar
• 1 tbs Maple Syrup or Honey
  

Songpyeon Dough (1 batch):

• 150 g Rice Flour
• 75 g Glutinous Rice Flour
• 1/4 + 1/8 tsp Salt
• 180 g Hot Boiling Water
  

Coating

• A Bowl of Ice Water
• Sesame Oil

INSTRUCTIONS
Natural Food Colouring

1. For the berries;
   Simply give them a quick rinse with cool running water, and then let the berries sit in the salt-vinegar-water bath for about 5-10 minutes (this process will help to remove pesticides, dirt and mold).
   Cut the strawberries into small pieces. Place them in a non-stick pan and cook over medium-high heat until it comes to a low boil.
   Once the strawberries soften and just start to break apart, gently press it with potato masher to release all the juices.
   Lower the heat, let it simmer for about 1 minute, then remove from the heat and strain. This concentrate juice will colour your songpyeon beautifully.
   *Don’t throw this precious strawberry skin. You can add to your yogurt or make some strawberry tea.
   Repeat the same process with the blueberries
2. For the spinach
   Blanch the washed spinach over 120 g boiling water for about 1 minute.
   Place the blanched spinach with the water in food processor, blend it until smooth.
   Strain the juice back to the pan to remove the pulp; and continue cook the spinach juice until it reduce to 1/8 cup. Use the concentrate juice to colour your dough.
3. For the pumpkin
   You can use either steamer or microwave to cook the pumpkin.
   Using microwave: cover the washed pumpkin with damp kitchen towel, and microwave on high heat for 5 minutes. 
   To make the pumpkin puree; remove the skin and sift the cooked pumpkin through the strainer. It will becomes really smooth and make it easier when mixing with the Songpyeon dough.
   

Sesame Filling

1. Grind the roasted sesame seeds, salt, sugar and Kinako powder with a food processor (you can use mortar or pestle to do this).
   You don’t need to blend it until completely ground, just half way is fine.
2. Add maple syrup or honey and blend it again for a few second. 
   Maple syrup or honey will give the filling a little bit of moisture, makes the sesame stick together so much easier to handle when stuffing the Songpyeon
3. Cover the filling with a cling wrap so it doesn’t dry out.
   

Chesnut/ Pine Nut Filling
Simply grind the chestnut or pine nut with the rest ingredients and your filling is done. Cover the filling with a cling wrap so it doesn’t dry out.

Songpyeon Dough

1. In a large bowl combine the rice four, glutinous rice flour and salt; mix well.
2. Add 2 tablespoon hot boiling water at a time and mix (it is very important to use really hot boiling water to create more chewy texture).
   Remember that the dough is quite hot, so it’s a good idea to mix everything with a spoon first; and then once all the hot water is fully mixed, you can start kneading the dough with your hands
   The more you knead the dough, the more rice cake will chewier and taste good.
   *Please note that different brand of flour can produce slightly different results. Resist the urge to add too much water, remember that we will add some food colouring to the dough, we don’t want that the dough ends up too soft and hard to shape.
   As long as the dough comes together into a smooth ball, it’s good to go.
3. Colour each portion of the dough as needed.
   You can test whether your dough is the right consistency by take some small piece of the dough and roll it between your palm, it should create a smooth ball. 
   If it breaks or you can see a lot of crack on the surface that means it might be too dry. Kindly adjust the amount of water or more juice 1 teaspoon at a time until you get the right consistency.
4. Remember always cover the dough with a cling wrap so it doesn’t dry out.
   

Fill and Shaping
To fill and create the basic round shape, kindly follow YouTube video instructions or check out step by step pictures below:

Steaming
Layer a bamboo steamer with a layer of cotton steamer cloth and sprinkle some granulated sugar on top of the cotton cloth so the Songpyeon won’t stick to it.
*If you use metal or plastic steamer, make sure that you cover the lid with a piece of cloth; so the water condensation during steaming won’t ruin the look of your Songpyeon.
After finished with all the design, preheat the steamer. 
When the water starts to boil, cover and steam Songpyeon over high heat for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes turn off the heat, let the steamer rest for another 3 minutes.
Remove steamer from the heat.

Finishing & Coating
After steaming, quickly rinse cooked Songpyeon with ice water in order to maintain their chewy texture.
Then using your hands or small brush coat them lightly with sesame oil (this oil will prevent from sticking to each other and also adds a fragrant aroma).
Serve warm or at room temperature.

NOTES

1. Songpyeon are best eaten on the day they it’s made.
2. Storing – Place the left over Songpyeon in an airtight container and store them in the fridge for 3 days or 2 weeks in the freezer.
   I don’t recommend to freeze them too long coz freezing them may change their texture.
3. Reheating – Steam Songpyeon for about 5-10 minutes.
   DO NOT microwave Songpyeon, the skin will turned hard and lose their chewiness.