Hotteok is Korean street food. A dough is wrapped around a sweet filling, normally a mix of sugar, nuts, and spices, and then shallow fried. In this version, the filling is a delicious blueberry reduction and a slice of brie.
In many countries in Asia, it is the street food that defines the cuisine, not the fine dining. This is very true in Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia. It was true in Singapore in decades past. In an effort to clean up the streets, the street food vendors were moved into hawker centers. These have in turn earned culinary significance in their own right, including a couple of Michelin stars.
South Korea has a similarly rich street food tradition. Hotteok is one of these popular street food items. While there are a variety of fillings, the sweet spicy nutty filling appears to be the classic and most popular one. There are others, including savory fillings. I couldn’t find any references to a blueberry and brie filling, but because I love both these ingredients, especially together, so why not? Blueberry reductions are awesome!
Great video about making hotteok as a street food…
As is so often the case, the street food vendors make it look so easy. It isn’t. But it is fun having a try. The result was certainly worth the effort. While these hotteok were great on their own, they also made a great dessert with some whipped cream or ice-cream. And they freeze well, so make a lot.
Blueberry and brie hotteok
Ingredients
Dough
- 3/4 cup warm water
- 1 tsp active yeast
- 1 tsp honey
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 cups all purpose flour
Filling
- 250 g blueberries
- 2 Tbsp blueberry jam or maple syrup or honey
- 2 Tbsp water
- 8 slices brie
Instructions
Dough
- Whisk together the warm water, yeast, and honey in a large bowl. Let sit for 15 minutes. Bubbles should be appearing.
- Add 1 cup of flour and 1 tsp salt and stir to combine.
- Add another 1/2 cup of flour and start kneading with one hand.
- Knead for around 3-4 minutes, adding sprinkles of flour as needed to stop it sticking to your hand or bowl.
- Fold in 1 Tbsp of the extra virgin olive oil, knead some more, then fold in the other Tbsp.
- Knead another 3-4 minutes.
- When the dough is getting a little springy (push your finger in and the dough should rebound), form it into a ball.
- Smear the inside of the bowl with the 1 Tbsp olive oil.
- Put the ball of dough in the middle of the bowl, cover and let sit at room temperature for 2 or 3 hours.
- Punch down and divide into eight balls.
- Allow to sit for another 30 minutes. Time to prepare the filling.
Filling
- Rinse blueberries and add to a skillet
- Add jam/syrup/honey and water
- Simmer until the blueberries break down and the combination starts to thicken. About 15 minutes.
- Allow to cool.
Assembly
- Grab a piece of dough and stretch it until it is flat and round, about a big as your hand.
- Lay on a slice of brie, then spoon on some blueberry reduction.
- Fold the sides into the centre and squeeze together so that the filling if fully enclosed.
- Flatten out then fry on both sides until golden.
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