Beautiful Flower Pancake

It is getting warm these days. The forsythia, the symbol of the spring, bloomed and also cherry blossoms are in full bloom. In my hometown, Yeo-su, azaleas(Jindallae, 진달래) covered the entire mountain in pink. Also the azalea festival is held about this time every year. When I was child, I usually eat honey from azaleas and petals; also my mom cooked with azaleas. This is called “Hwajeon”, in Korea, people make jeon(전, similar to pancake) with azaleas’ petals. Hwajeon is very beautiful and has a nice fragrance. When I eat Hwajeon, it feels like eating an air of spring. For this reason, I really like Hwajeon, and I think this is the most beautiful food in spring. Let me explain more about Hwajeon and let’s make Hwajeon!

Hwajeon is a small, sweet tteok (떡, rice cake or pancake) made of any edible flower petals such as azalea or chrysanthemum and glutinous rice flour, and sugar. Its name means that “Hwa” is a flower, and “jeon” is pancake. People usually eat Hwajeon with syrup for dessert. It is really beautiful because of the flower and aromatic. It has a chewy texture and is very sweet. There are many jeons (전, pancake) in Korea, but Hwajeon is the most special jeon. Because it is made of flowers and has beautiful shape, people say “We eat Hwajeon with eyes”.

Then, I’m going to show you how to make Hwajeon. Before making Hwajeon, you have to get edible flower petals such as azalea.

1.     Wash flower petals and put them in the cold water.

2.     Knead glutinous rice flour(찹쌀가루) with hot water, and shape dough into a little ball.

3.     Heat up a frying pan and make balls into flat. Just fry them!

4.     Turn them over and put flower petals on them.

5.     After the cook, top with syrup. Try your pretty Hwajeon J