Nostalgia

Bung-uh-bbang (One of my favorite Korean street foods)

It is not hard to find food trucks or carts on the street in Korea. They usually sell fish cakes with soup, corn dogs, egg bread, fish shaped bread (bung-uh-bbang), ddukboki, hodduk and so on. I love fish cake the best. It's warm and filling. But this fish shaped bread, bung-uh-bbang, is the next go-to. Outside of bread is crunch, inside is soft and chewy and is filled with sweetened red bean paste. I adore all about red bean. 

Sweetened red bean paste is one of foods that I do not want to buy at grocery store. Store-bought one is overly sweet to my taste and it is really easy to make at home. Only down side is it takes time like all other beans.

My mom told me I need to boil the bean and throw away the water before cooking. If not, it will have slightly bitter taste from red bean. I'm not sure if it is true or not, but I am following my mom's instruction whenever I cook red beans.

I usually use a slow cooker to cook red bean. Method is simple. Put them (which is once boiled) in the slow cooker and fill the clean water over 2-3 inches of beans. Add pinch of sugar and generous amount of sugar and cook for 8-10 hours at low heat setting. (if needed, add more water) When red bean gets soft, I taste it and add more sugar if necessary. If there's lots of liquid, I transfer it to pot and boil them. I do not completely dry it out on the stove since red bean will absorb lots of water when it gets cold. 

Bung-uh-bbang pan

This bung-uh-bbang needs special pan to make fish shape. I've got it from Korea few years ago, but found that amazon carries it too.

I tried some Japanese recipes, but they were not quite Korean version. It should not be like muffin-like texture. I thought there wasn't needed any leavening agent (baking soda and/or baking powder). So I tried without them, and my husband said 'that's it'. 

Korean Fish Shaped Bread 

Bung-uh-bbang 붕어빵

140g AP

10g sweet rice flour (If you don't have it, you can use 150g AP)

180g milk

1 egg

pinch salt

2T sugar

red bean paste

1. Mix AP, sweet rice flour, sugar and salt in a bowl.
2. Mix milk and egg in another bowl
3. Pour wet into dry ingredients and set aside.
4. Meanwhile, heat the pan on the stove and brush oil.
5. Fill the batter about 30% of the pan, put red bean paste in the middle (do not put too much) of the batter and cover it with batter.
6. Close the lid and cook for around 2 minutes and flip and cook another 2 minutes.  (Check frequently not to burn)
7. When it's golden brown, take them out and let cool. (Red bean paste must be extremely hot, so be careful when you eat right away from the pan. I've scalded lots of times since I was little.)