Go Back
flower and pumpkin shape songpyeon for Chuseok by Kreamy Vegan
Kreamy Vegan

Flowers, leaves, pumpkin-shaped songpyeon

Decorative songpyeon for Chuseok, Part 2
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Korean
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Purple Songpyeon Dough
  • 200 g Rice flour
  • 30 g Purple sweet potato
  • 2 g Salt
  • 150 ml Hot water
Orange Songpyeon Dough
  • 200 g Rice flour
  • 2 g Salt
  • 150 ml Hot water
  • 60 g Orange sweet potato
Green Songpyeon Dough
  • 200 g Rice flour
  • 2 g Salt
  • 2 g Mugwort powder
  • 1 g Spirulina powder
  • 180 ml Hot water 2/3 cup
Yellow Dough (for decoration)
  • 50 g Rice flour
  • 20 ml Hot water
  • 1/8 tsp Turmeric powder a dash
Green Dough (for decoration)
  • 50 g Rice flour
  • 20 ml Hot water
  • 1 g Spirulina powder
Brown Dough (for decoration)
  • 50 g Rice flour
  • 20 ml Hot water
  • 1/8 tsp Cocoa powder
Fillings
  • 1/2 cup Sesame seeds roasted and half-grinded
  • 1/2 cup Sugar
  • 1/2 cup Roasted soybean powder
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 2 tbsp Date syrup

Method
 

Purple and Orange Songpyeon Instructions
  1. Steam the sweet potatoes for 20 minutes.
  2. While the sweet potatoes are cooking, mix salt and rice flour.
  3. Bring the water to a boil, and put hot water bit by bit on the rice flour. Mix the rice flour thoroughly with a spatula as you put hot water so every part of the rice flour gets moisturized.
  4. Once the sweet potatoes are cooked, put the hot sweet potato right to the dough mixture. Knead the dough for 10 minutes once the flour gets clumped. Put the dough inside a container and let it rest for 20 minutes. In the meantime, make fillings. See the instructions how to make fillings below.
  5. Shape the dough into a ball and make a shape as a songpyeon. Please find detailed instructions below.*
Green Songpyeon Instructions
  1. Mix salt and rice flour. To make green songpyeon, add the mugwort and spirulina powder.
  2. Bring the water to a boil, and put hot water bit by bit on the rice flour. Mix the rice flour thoroughly with a spatula as you put hot water so every part of the rice flour gets moisturized.
  3. Knead the dough for 10 minutes once the flour gets clumped. Put the dough inside a container and let it rest for 20 minutes. In the meantime, make fillings.
  4. Shape the dough into a ball and make a shape as a songpyeon. Please find detailed instructions below.*
How to make fillings
  1. Roast the sesame seeds in a pan or put them in the oven for 15 minutes at 160 Celsius or 320 Fahrenheit. It will turn into a golden color.
  2. Cool the sesame seeds and grind them until half of the sesame seeds are broken and half of them are intact.
  3. Mix the sesame seeds, sugar, soybean powder, salt, and 1/4 of a teaspoon.
How to shape Songpyeon into flowers*
  1. Divide the purple dough into 20 grams each.
  2. Roll the dough into a ball.
  3. Flatten the ball into a small disk, and place a small amount of your desired filling. Usually, a 1/3 teaspoon will work.
  4. Carefully fold the dough over the filling to encase it, then pinch the edges together to seal it.
  5. Dip your fingers in some water if the dough starts to crack.
  6. Roll the enclosed dough into a ball, and slightly flatten it.
  7. Using a tool with a flat tip, make long grooves. If you don’t have a tool, you can use the back of a fork or a chopstick.
  8. Take a small piece of yellow dough and make a ball out of it. Then put the yellow dough in the center of the flower.
How to shape the songpyeon into pumpkin
  1. Divide the orange dough into 20 grams each.
  2. Roll the dough into a ball.
  3. Flatten the ball into a small disk, and place a small amount of your desired filling. Usually, a 1/3 teaspoon will work.
  4. Carefully fold the dough over the filling to encase it, then pinch the edges together to seal it. 
  5. Dip your fingers in some water if the dough starts to crack.
  6. Roll the enclosed dough into a ball. You can lightly flatten and make the dough have a square shape like a persimmon.
  7. Take a small piece of green dough and make shapes like a little stick.
  8. Put the stick on top of the pumpkin.
  9. Add a dash of cocoa powder into a small piece of dough. when the dough shows a brown color, make a small stick out of the dough and put the branch on the very top of the persimmon.
How to shape the songpyeon into a leaf
  1. Divide the orange dough into 20 grams each.
  2. Roll the dough into a ball.
  3. Flatten the ball into a small disk, and place a small amount of your desired filling. Usually, a 1/3 teaspoon will work.
  4. Carefully fold the dough over the filling to encase it, then pinch the edges together to seal it.
  5. Roll the enclosed dough into a ball, and slightly flatten it.
  6. Elongate the dough and make a little tip on the top. Then by using a tool with a flat tip, make long grooves like leaves.
How to steam songpyeon
  1. Line a steamer with fresh pine needles if you have one. This traditional step adds a fragrant aroma to Songpyeon, but it’s optional.
  2. Steam the Songyeon for 20 minutes until they become translucent and have a shiny appearance.
  3. Let it cool and brush it lightly with some neutral oil. Then serve it with a warm glass of tea!

Notes

Tips
  • Using spirulina, turmeric, and cocoa powder is not a traditional ingredient, however, they provide such beautiful and vivid colors to the dough with only a dash of this powder.
  • Once the songpyeon is cooked, it gets darker in color. I like to have the dough in a pastel tone so the colors of my songpyeon are in beautiful clear colors. I prefer some medium tones to very deep colors on my songpyeon.
  • It is very important to use the correct rice flour! If you cannot find Korean rice flour, then you can use 50% of the rice flour of your choice and 50% of the glutinous rice flour. Korean rice flour is usually stickier than other kinds, which is a key feature you need in a rice cake. I find Thai rice flour works similarly to Korean rice flour. If I can’t even find Thai rice flour, I use 50% of Indian rice flour and 50% of Vietnamese glutinous rice flour.