Rice Cakes in Pine Needles (송편)

Chuseok (추석) in Korea – one of the two most celebrated traditional holidays together with the lunar New Year Day (설날). It falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month – the same day many Asian countries celebrate a Mid-Autumn Festival. Families gather and celebrate the year’s harvest, giving thanks to their ancestors. A must-have Chuseok delicacy is Songpyeon (송편) – small half-moon shaped rice cakes. They are stuffed with sweet fillings, such as sesame seeds and mung beans, and steamed on a bed of pine needles.

Ingredients:

• Short grain rice flour.
• Mugwort powder.
• Blueberries.
• Yellow water from gardenia fruits.
• Water.
• Salt.
• Honey.
• Fresh beans.
• Pine nuts.
• Sesame seeds.
• Pine needles.
• Sesame oil