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About Yakgwa

Yakgwa is a traditional Korean dessert. It is created by combining sesame oil with flour sifted through a fine sieve, adding grain syrup and alcohol, kneading it, stamping it on a Yakgwa board. After you have to carve a pattern, and frying it in oil. Modern Yakgwa factory products are created from materials such as flour, cooking oil, starch syrup, and sugar.

The etymology of medicine is as follows. ‘Yak’ means medicine in Korean and ‘gwa’ means snacks. If you translate it literally, you get an unusual combination called pharmaceutical snacks. The reason why this meaning arose is because honey and sugar, the main ingredients of medicinal plants, were used as medicine in the past during the Joseon dynasty in Korea.

Yakgwa is very popular. This is because there are few crumbs, the texture is chewy, and the flavor is mildly sweet. They’re even packaged as snacks and sold in stores in front of primary schools. Because of its sweet flavor, it complements black coffee, tea, and vanilla ice cream. However, as the ingredients indicate, it is extremely heavy in calories. If you are on a diet, you should absolutely avoid this food.

From 2023, Yakgwa will be a popular food. Traditional dishes are frequently modified to fit contemporary preferences, making them popular. Yakgwa also sells cakes, bread, shaved ice, waffles, and donuts.

Now let’s make yakgwa together.

Ingredients

2 cups of oligosaccharides
1 tablespoon ginger or ginger juice
1 cup sugar
1 cup of water
1 tablespoon cinnamon powder
3 cups of flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1 tablespoon ginger juice
1 tablespoon sesame oil

How to make it

Making grain syrup

First, we will make sweet grain syrup to mix with Yakgwa.

2 cups of oligosaccharides
1 tablespoon ginger or ginger juice
1 cup sugar
1 cup of water
1 tablespoon cinnamon powder

Put it in a pot and boil it over medium heat. You can use ginger extract or ginger powder instead of ginger slices or ginger juice.

Continue to boil the grain syrup and when it boils, turn off the heat and let it cool. It should be completely cooled, not lukewarm.

Making Yakgwa dough

Now that we have made the syrup for the guacamole, shall we start making the yakgwa batter?

3 cups of flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder

Add and mix gently by rubbing with your hands to avoid lumps.

Add the powder you just mixed

1 tablespoon ginger juice
1 tablespoon sesame oil

Please put in

Like before, mix with your hands to avoid lumps.

Add each ingredient and filter the mixed powder using a sieve.

Since there is clumped powder, rub it through a sieve with your hand to remove the powder.

Then you can get fine particle powder.

Combining grain syrup and flour

Gradually add the cooled syrup to the powder.

When adding syrup, start with a little amount and gradually add more while mixing.

You may be wondering how much syrup you should add to the powder. Just add the syrup until you can see some dry powder in the dough.

If you add the powder to a level where you can’t see it, it will become sticky when fried, so make a batter so that the powder is visible.

When the dough is complete, cover it with plastic wrap and let it age.
I let it ripen for about half a day.

There is no need to buy a mold or a separate case. You can pack it into round, flat, or square shapes.

But food that looks good is also good to eat! It’s prettier if you use a tray or stamping mold.
Also, to make it easier to remove the dough, it is a good idea to cover the mold with plastic or plastic wrap.

When putting the dough into the mold, be careful to press it firmly so it doesn’t break!

I poked holes in the dough with a toothpick or fork to ensure it was fried well. I made about 5-6 holes in each piece of dough.

Frying

Afterwards, just fry the Yakgwa and dough in oil. When frying for the first time, fry it over medium heat, then take it out again, let it cool, and then fry it again.

So you only need to fry it twice in total.

Soak the golden brown fried yakgwa in syrup water while it is still hot! Without letting it cool, just soak it in the syrup water until it is completely submerged. Leave it in the syrup water for about 30 minutes or more.