Hwajeon (Glutinous Rice Rounds Pressed with Azalea Petals)

Name: Hwajeon (Glutinous Rice Rounds Pressed with Azalea Petals)
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Korean
Ingredients: 200 g glutinous rice flour; 2 g salt; 3 tbsp boiling water; 12 Korean azalea (jindallae) flowers; 12 small crown daisy (ssukgat) leaves; 1 tbsp neutral oil; 3 tbsp honey or rice syrup

A spring rice cake: glutinous rice dough made with boiling water, shaped into flat rounds, fried over low heat, with azalea petals pressed onto the cooked side. Because the flower is an ingredient, it has to be chosen properly first: the one eaten is Korean azalea (jindallae), not the similar-looking royal azalea (cheoljjuk), and only the petals are used, with the stamens taken off.

Ingredients

4servings

glutinous rice flour · the damp, mill-ground kind200 g
salt2 g
boiling water · more or less depending on the flour3 tbsp
Korean azalea (jindallae) flowers · unsprayed, stamens removed12
small crown daisy (ssukgat) leaves · optional12
neutral oil1 tbsp
honey or rice syrup3 tbsp

Steps

Take the stamens out of the azalea flowers and keep only the petals. Swish them gently in cold water and spread them on kitchen paper to dry.
Mix the salt into the rice flour, then add the boiling water a spoonful at a time. It is hot, so stir with a spoon first; once you can handle it, knead for 5 minutes until it is as soft as an earlobe.
⏲ 5 min
Divide into 12, roll into balls and press each flat between your palms to 5cm across and 5mm thick. Keep them under a damp cloth so they do not dry.
Film a frying pan with oil over low heat. Lay the rounds in and cook for 2 minutes, until the underside turns translucent. If it colours, the heat is too high.
⏲ 2 min
Turn them, then lay the petals and leaves on the side that is already cooked and press lightly. Cook for 1 minute 30 seconds more, until the underside is translucent too. The flowered side does not go back onto the pan.
⏲ 1 min 30 sec
Lift onto a plate and serve with honey or rice syrup. They are chewiest while warm.

Tips & Variations

Variations

Chrysanthemum hwajeon: ko.wikipedia names chrysanthemum alongside azalea. Autumn uses chrysanthemum petals, summer roses or cockscomb. Whatever the flower, the first step is making sure it is one that can be eaten.
When there are no flowers: pare a jujube thinly in a spiral, roll it into a flower shape and set it on with a crown daisy leaf. It looks the same and does not depend on the season.
With azalea hwachae: according to ko.wikipedia, the spring hwajeon outings of the third day of the third lunar month served them with a punch of honey water or omija infusion with azalea petals floating in it.
With some non-glutinous rice flour: glutinous flour alone is soft but spreads. Replacing about a third with non-glutinous rice flour holds the shape better, at the cost of some chew.

Tips

Check the flower first. The one eaten is Korean azalea, jindallae. Royal azalea, cheoljjuk, which flowers on the same spring hillsides and looks much like it, is toxic and not eaten, and the old names — jindallae the true flower (chamkkot), cheoljjuk the dog flower (gaekkot) — record exactly that distinction. Jindallae flowers before its leaves come out; cheoljjuk flowers with its leaves, and is sticky around the base of the flower. If you are not sure which it is, do not use it. Flowers from a florist may have been sprayed, so use flowers grown to be eaten.
Stamens out, petals only. Traditionally only the petals of jindallae are eaten and the stamens are removed. Dry the washed petals well or they will not stick to the dough.
The dough is songpyeon's hot-water dough. Exactly as songpyeon puts it: "Rice flour has no gluten, so cold water will not bring it together — the dough is made with boiling water, and the starch that gelatinises does the job gluten would". Glutinous rice flour is stickier than the non-glutinous kind and comes together with very little water, so do not pour it in all at once.
Flowers on the cooked side, never on the pan. A thin petal fades and curls the moment it meets a hot pan. Cook one side first, turn, and lay the flower on the side that is already cooked. The dough is still warm and tacky, so the petal sticks where it is put, and after that the flowered side never touches the pan.
Low heat, and no colour. Hwajeon is meant to be white with the petal showing through. Fried golden over high heat, the surface puffs and browns and buries the petal. Over low heat, the dough turning from opaque white to translucent is the sign that it is cooked.
Eat them straight away. Glutinous rice cakes firm up and stick together as they cool. When frying several batches, spread them out rather than stacking them.