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Youngyang Chaltteok (Healthy Sweet Rice Cake)
5 from 45 votes

Youngyang Chaltteok (Healthy Sweet Rice Cake)

Youngyang Chaltteok is a Korean steamed sweet rice cake incorporating black soybeans, dried jujubes, chestnuts, and walnuts mixed into sweet rice flour with sugar and optional almond meal. The mixture is gently steamed over a cloth-lined steamer to create a moist, chewy cake with nutritious fruit and nut bits throughout.

Prep Time
30 mins
Cook Time
30 mins
Servings: 12
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Korean

Ingredients

  • 1 cup black soybeans seoritae, 서리태 (or kidney beans, soaked, 1/2 cup dry
  • 12 jujube dried Korean dates, daechu, 대추 (or 1/2 cup raisins, dried cranberries or persimmons
  • 1/2 cup kabocha squash or other type of pumpkin - optional - See note 1, dried
  • 10 chestnut quartered
  • 1/2 cup walnuts quartered
  • 5 cups sweet rice flour defrosted at room temperature, if frozen - See note 2, wet
  • 3 tablespoons sugar 2 tablespoons if you like it less sweet
  • ⅓ cup almond meal optional

Instructions

    Cup of Yum
  1. Prepare the beans by soaking in warm water for a few hours. Rinse the jujubes and cut each one around the seed into 3 to 4 pieces. Rinse the optional dried kabocha and rehydrate by adding a tablespoon or two of water at a time, until softened. Prepare the nuts.
  2. In a large bowl, combine the rice flour, sugar, and the optional almond meal. Mix well by hand or a whisk until everything is well incorporated. Add 2 tablespoons of water and rub the powder between your palms, breaking the big clumps, to evenly distribute the moisture. You don’t need to try to break up small clumps.
  3. Add all the other ingredients and gently toss to combine everything.
  4. Fill a steamer (or a pot) with water two thirds of the way. Prepare the steamer insert (or bamboo steamer) with a wet linen/cotton cloth (or cheesecloth). Turn the heat on. When it starts to steam, add the mixture to the steamer insert with a large spoon. Even the top out, but do not pack. If your cloth hangs down low, fold it over to cover the mixture. Unless using a bamboo steamer, fully cover the top with another cloth before putting the lid on. (This will prevent the water generated by steam from dripping on the rice cake.)
  5. Steam for 30 minutes, and then remove the steamer insert from the heat.
  6. When it’s cool enough to handle, flip it over onto a cutting board. Remove the cloth.
  7. Shape the rice cake to a rectangle if desired. Wet your hands before touching the rice cake. Cut into serving size pieces.
  8. Keep it in an airtight container if serving within a day or two. To store for a longer period, individually wrap and freeze the rice cake. For best results, do this within a few hours of making. Simply leave it out at room temperature until it softens before serving, or you can briefly defrost it in the microwave.

Notes

  • Dry kabocha slices by peeling and thinly slicing a quarter of a medium kabocha, then dehydrating for 2 to 3 hours or in a low oven.
  • Make sweet rice flour at home by soaking sweet rice overnight, draining, adding salt, and grinding finely in a blender.