Caramel Hotteok (Korean Stuffed Sweet Pancakes)
Hotteok is a popular Korean street food that’s made with wheat flour and is traditionally stuffed with brown sugar, honey, nuts and cinnamon.
For this version I added sweet potato to the batter and stuffed these pancakes with a date caramel sauce.
This recipe is paleo, compliant with phase one of AIP (the autoimmune protocol) and is free of all refined sugars.
Ingredients Used:
Japanese Sweet Potatoes: Japanese sweet potatoes are more dense and creamier than orange sweet potatoes. The flesh is white and the skin is a purplish color. You can’t find these at your local Asian grocery store, Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s. At Trader Joe’s they have two version. One called Muasaki and sometimes they’ll also have Japanese sweet potatoes. Both of these come from the same plant. If you’re unsure if you’ve got the right plant, scratch a bit of the skin off and if the interior is white you’ve got the correct one.
Cassava Flour: Cassava is native to Brazil and South America. It’s similar in shape to a sweet potato but is longer and brown on the outside. Inside the flesh is white. Like sweet potatoes and yams, cassava is also a tuber that is often made into a flour or is eaten on it’s own just like a potato. This root vegetable can be use as a substitute for many potato based recipes. Its flour may also act as a 1:1 flour replace in some recipes as well. Cassava flour is a fantastic anti-inflammatory plant to use. You may try substituting with tapioca flour which is derived from the cassava root. Or, you may try almond flour as well.
Tapioca starch: Tapioca starch comes from the cassava plant and is the starch of the cassava root. If you do not have access to tapioca starch you may substitute arrowroot starch.
Dates: you’ll need dates for this recipe. I used deglet noor dates from Trader Joe’s.
Coconut milk: I use a lot of coconut products. If you are allergic to coconut milk, I recommend trying almond or cashew milk. Alternatively, you may try making your own nut milk using tigernut flour or making some banana milk with banana and some water.
Cinnamon: Cinnamon is one of my favorite plants to use. It is a great for so many things and just makes everything taste amazing! Use it to help with respiratory issues, sooth your digestion
Vanilla: I buy my vanilla from Trader Joe’s but it is my goal to one day make my own. I use a pure bourbon and alcohol free vanilla.
Ingredients:
400-500g Japanese sweet potatoes
1-2 tsp cinnamon or to taste
1 cup full fat coconut milk
1 cup cassava flour
1 + 1/4 cup tapioca flour
2 tbsp avocado or coconut oil, for cooking
Date Caramel:
1 12oz package of dates
About 1/4-1/2 cup full fat coconut milk
Cinnamon, to taste
1/4 tsp vanilla
Pinch of salt
Preparations:
To make the caramel:
Soak the dates in water for a couple of hours until they become soft and tender. Then, add them to a food processor with the cinnamon, vanilla, a pinch of salt and coconut milk. Blend everything together until a smooth paste forms.
The paste will harden slightly in the fridge. This is a very customizable formula and you can make your paste creamier or thicker depending on your desire.
You’ll have some leftover date caramel after making the hotteok. Feel free to use it as you wish. But honestly, it’s delicious just eaten as a snack with some diced fruit.
To Make the Hotteok:
Start by peeling and steaming the sweet potatoes. Once they are soft and fall apart easily, rinse them under cold water to cool them down. Then, add them to a large bowl and mash them really well with a fork until they’re as smooth as possible.
Then, add cinnamon and the full fat coconut milk. Stir these together well.
Next, add the flours and mix with your hands until a ball of dough forms. Remove the dough from the bowl and continue to knead it even further with your hands.