Hotteok are the smell of a Korean winter street market, golden yeasted pancakes fried on a hot griddle until crisp outside, with a molten filling of brown sugar, cinnamon and crushed nuts that oozes out with the first bite.
The dough is soft and slightly chewy thanks to a little glutinous rice flour, and pressing each ball flat in the pan gives you those gorgeous crisp golden edges. They're best eaten warm, when the sugary centre is still runny like caramel.
They're surprisingly simple to make at home with pantry staples. The dough needs an hour to rise, but the actual shaping and frying is quick, fun, and very hard to stop at one.
