12.239 Hodu Gwaja

Cycle 12 – Cycle 239

1 (Wed) September 2021

Hodu Gwaja

2.5

from Hodu Gwaja

(Gyeonggi Gwangju Rest Stop)

at home

-Changgok, Sujeong, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea-

with the Family

Over the next few weeks, we’re making various repairs to the cabin.  Today, I made a day trip to oversee the removal of floorboards.

We were here a couple days ago to move all the furniture onto the deck.

On the way home, I dropped by a highway rest stop and left with a bag of hodu gwaja.

Hodu Gwaja is a Korean dish.  Walnut-shaped, flour-based cakes, stuffed with sweet bean paste plus bits of walnut – the somewhat misnomeric name means “walnut (hodu) cracker/cookie (gwaja).”  It is the definitive snack at rest stops, available at all rest stops across the country; curiously, despite its overwhelming popularity on the road, hodu gwaja are virtually impossible to find at regular stores.

The food stall doesn’t indicate the brand.

Generally not a fan of sweets, I’ve never been a fan of hodu gwaja.  But the family likes them.

The box is labeled as “100% Woori (our/local) Mil (flour),” unclear whether that’s the brand or just a description.
A box of 2 bags of 28  for 10,000 won.
Re-heated in the air fryer at 160 C for 10 minutes.
The walnuts are hidden somewhere in there.

The hodu gwaja were pretty good.  Warm and crispy on the outside, warm and fluffy on the inside.  Traditionally with thicker cakey breading, these were thinner, almost like pastry.  In lieu of the standard jammy red bean paste, the bean paste here was lighter and creamier.  Same scant showing of walnuts, maybe 2 or 3 bits per cake – despite the name, the dish isn’t really about walnuts.  I could get used to these.

(See also GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)

(See also RESTAURANTS IN KOREA)

Leave a Reply