Yaksik — Korean sweet rice with chestnuts, jujubes and pine nuts

i. Origin & history

Yaksik is one of the oldest Korean sweets with a recorded story. The thirteenth-century chronicle Samguk yusa tells how King Soji of Silla, at the end of the fifth century, was warned of a plot against his life by a crow, and how, in gratitude, the people made offerings of glutinous rice to crows on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Yaksik is traditionally linked to that custom. The tale is legend, and the dish described may have been simpler than today's version, but the association of sweet glutinous rice with the first full moon has lasted for many centuries.

The ingredients reflect a dish of celebration and status. Honey, chestnuts, jujubes and pine nuts were valuable, and in the Joseon dynasty yaksik was a food of feasts, ancestral rites and the royal court as well as of the Daeboreum festival. Today it remains a festive food for Daeboreum, Chuseok, weddings and the 60th-birthday celebration (hwangap), and it is also sold year-round in rice-cake shops (tteokjip) as a snack.

The name has two forms: yaksik (약식) and yakbap (약밥), both meaning 'medicine food' or 'medicine rice'. In Korean culinary tradition, the prefix yak, medicine, was given to dishes made with honey, which was considered restorative, as in the fried honey biscuit yakgwa. Yaksik is not a medicine in any modern sense; the name reflects the old belief that honey and the nuts and fruits in it were good for health.

Yaksik is often compared to the Chinese eight-treasure rice pudding and to other sweet sticky-rice dishes of East and Southeast Asia, but its combination of soy sauce, sesame oil, honey and cinnamon gives it a distinctive, deep, slightly savoury sweetness, and its dark brown colour sets it apart.

ii. Why the rice is steamed twice

Yaksik is made from glutinous rice (chapssal), whose starch is almost entirely amylopectin. When cooked, amylopectin makes the grains sticky and chewy, and they cling together without turning to mush — the property that lets yaksik be pressed into a cohesive cake.

The traditional method cooks the rice twice. First, the soaked rice is steamed on its own until just tender. Then, while still hot, it is mixed with the seasoning — brown sugar, honey, sesame oil, soy sauce and cinnamon — and the chestnuts, jujubes and pine nuts, and left to absorb the flavours. Finally it is steamed again, for a long time, until the sugar has caramelised slightly, the grains have turned a deep, glossy brown and the flavour has deepened. Mixing the seasoning into hot rice is important: the warm grains absorb the syrup evenly, while cold rice would stay pale and stiff.

The colour comes from brown sugar, soy sauce and, traditionally, a caramel sauce made by cooking sugar until dark. Soy sauce is used in small quantities, not to make the dish salty, but to add depth and colour, much as salt sharpens a sweet dessert. Sesame oil gives the rice its gloss and fragrance and stops the grains sticking to each other too much.

Modern Korean cooks often make yaksik in an electric rice cooker or pressure cooker, using the steaming or multi-grain setting, which gives a similar result with much less effort. The steamer method below gives the most traditional texture.

iii. Ingredients

Makes 8 servings · scroll the side panel to adjust

• 400 g glutinous (sweet) rice
• 120 g peeled cooked chestnuts, halved
• 12 dried jujubes (red dates), pitted and quartered
• 30 g pine nuts
• 100 g dark brown sugar
• 3 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 tbsp raisins or dried cranberries (optional)

Use glutinous rice, sometimes called sweet rice or sticky rice; ordinary short-grain rice will not hold together in the same way. Chestnuts can be bought cooked and vacuum-packed. Jujubes (daechu) are dried red dates sold in Korean and Chinese grocers; they add a gentle, apple-like sweetness. Pine nuts are traditional and give a soft, buttery crunch. Use a light Korean soy sauce (jin ganjang) or ordinary soy sauce; it is for depth and colour, not saltiness. Some cooks add a spoonful of caramel sauce for a darker colour.

iv. Method

1. Rinse the glutinous rice several times until the water runs clear, then soak in cold water for at least 4 hours, or overnight. Drain well.
2. Line a steamer basket with a damp cloth or muslin. Spread the rice in the basket, cover and steam over boiling water for 30–40 minutes, sprinkling the rice with a little salted water halfway through, until the grains are translucent and just tender.
3. While the rice steams, mix the brown sugar, honey, soy sauce, 2 tbsp of the sesame oil, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl.
4. Tip the hot rice into the bowl and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon until every grain is coated and evenly brown. Add the chestnuts, jujubes, pine nuts and raisins and mix again. Leave to stand for 30 minutes so the rice absorbs the seasoning.
5. Return the rice to the cloth-lined steamer, cover and steam for a further 40–60 minutes, until the rice is deep brown, glossy and very tender.
6. Stir in the remaining 1 tbsp sesame oil. Press the hot rice firmly into a square tin or dish lined with cling film, or into small oiled moulds, smoothing the top.
7. Leave to cool to room temperature, about 1 hour. Turn out and cut into squares or bars with an oiled knife.

v. Tips & common mistakes

• Soak the rice properly. Under-soaked glutinous rice stays hard in the centre even after long steaming.
• Season the rice while hot. Hot grains absorb the syrup evenly; cold rice turns patchy and stiff.
• Do not skip the second steaming. It deepens the colour and flavour and gives the characteristic glossy, chewy texture.
• Press it firmly. Firm packing makes yaksik hold its shape when cut. Loosely packed rice falls apart.
• Cut with an oiled knife. The rice is very sticky; a lightly oiled blade gives clean pieces.
• Do not refrigerate it for long. Glutinous rice hardens in the cold. If chilled, steam or microwave briefly to soften it again.

vi. Variations

Modern Korean cooks often make rice-cooker yaksik, putting soaked rice and all the seasonings and fruits into the cooker together and using the steam setting. Pumpkin yaksik adds cubes of sweet pumpkin, and some versions use walnuts, dried persimmon or sweet potato. Individual moulded yaksik, pressed into flower or round shapes, are popular as gifts and for celebrations.

Yaksik is part of a large family of glutinous rice sweets. In Korea, it sits beside rice cakes such as injeolmi and songpyeon; in China, the eight-treasure rice and nian gao eaten at New Year; in the Philippines, suman; in Thailand, sticky rice with durian; and in Japan, mochi and dango.

vii. Serving & storage

Yaksik is served at room temperature, cut into bite-sized squares or bars, often arranged on a plate with other rice cakes and fruit. At Daeboreum it is eaten alongside the five-grain rice (ogokbap), seasoned dried vegetables and nuts cracked for good luck (bureom). It goes well with green tea, barley tea or sikhye, the sweet rice drink.

It keeps at room temperature, covered, for a day; after that, wrap pieces individually and freeze them for up to a month, which is how many Korean households store it. Thaw at room temperature or warm briefly in the microwave or a steamer until soft. Avoid storing it in the refrigerator, where glutinous rice quickly becomes hard and dry.

ix. More from Korean

• Hotteok — Korean filled pancakes
• Bungeoppang — fish-shaped pastries
• Bingsu — Korean shaved ice
• Nian Gao — Chinese New Year rice cake
• Suman — Filipino sticky rice rolls
• Mochi — Japanese pounded rice cake