Hwajeon 화전 – hwa 화 means flower and jeon 전 means a pan-fried in korean.
It’s a pan-fried cake or pancake made with sweet rice / glutinous rice flour with seasonal edible flowers. It taste chewy and sweet.
Traditionally Hwajeon made with seasonal flowers in Korea. Spring with azaleas / pear blossom , wild chrysanthemum in autumn & rose petals when summer.
There’s a traditional picnic day called Hwajeon nori, means flower cake play. People going on a picnic in the mountains to watch the seasonal flowers during spring and autumn. They bring heavy pan and ingredients to make Hwajeon.
Cooking a sweet pancake while watching beautiful flowers blooming in the mountain. Ah.. what an experience. Really a day dreaming thing to do in Indonesia in these time of year. When some other part of the world are blooming in flowers we have raining, everyday… so sad. Well, we can still make the beautiful pancake at home. And enjoying it while watching some korean dramas… haha.. That a good idea!
So go to your backyard and find what edible flowers are survive from the rain today. Or not… ask nicely to your good neighbor for their flowers 😀
Ingredients
- ½ cup sweet rice flour (glutinous rice flour)
- ¼ cup hot boiling water
- 3 tbsp raw sugar
- 3 tbsp water
- 2 tsp vegetable oil (you can use oil with less strong smell or taste so your edible flowers taste & fragrant can stand out more)
- edible flowers (to use: butterfly pea, cosmos, rose, nasturtium, pansy, violet, dianthus, or what you have on hand)
- pinch of sea salt, to taste
Instructions
- Prepare all the ingredients near you.
- Prepare your edible flowers and rinse the flowers one by one in clean water.
- In a bowl, mix in sweet rice flour and salt then add in 1/4 cup hot boiling water and mix well using your clean wooden spatula.
- When the dough cooled enough to touch, then you can knead it by hand until the dough are smooth. You can add 1 tbsp hot water if your dough not smooth enough.
- Place the dough under a kitchen towel, or you can use a plastic wrap to prevent them from drying out.
- Divide the dough into 5 and shaped them into a ball, then press it gently with your fingers into a disc shape. Cover.
- Prepare your edible flowers near your dough. You can use only the petals or whole, depending on what flower you use. If the polen are too much, such as rose or cosmos, better to use only the flower petal.
- Heat up the pan over medium high heat.
- Add 2 tsp oil to coat the pan surface evenly so your Hwajeon won't stick to the pan.
- When the pan is heat enough, turn the heat to low, as low as your stove can, so your Hwajeon won't get burn easily.
- Put Hwajeon on the pan and cook them for a few minutes.
- When the bottoms are slightly crispy turn them over and flatten them out with a spatula. The prinsip are the same as when you making Hottoek.
- Cook a few more minutes.
- Arrange the edible flowers on the top of each pancake, then flip them over and press them down a few seconds so that the flower gets slightly cooked and sticks to your pancake.
- Cook for a few more second and serving on a plate with the syrup of your choice.
Serve while it still hot while enjoying some flowers blooming in your backyard. in the mountains. Or maybe while watching korean dramas in my case..
