Learn how to make Korean sweet rice dessert – Yaksik (Yakbap)!

What is Yaksik (Yakbap)

Today’s recipe is Korean sweet rice with dried fruit and nuts.

Its Korean name is Yaksik / Yakshik (약식) or Yakbap (약밥). It means medicinal food.

One of the key ingredients used is honey and honey was considered as a medicine in the old days in Korea.

Officially Yaksik is one of the foods you would eat on the first full moon of the new year (in the lunar calendar) – Jeongwol Daeboreum (정월대보름).

However, it is also typically served on other festive occasions such as Korean new year’s day (Seollal), Korean harvest festival (Chuseok), at a wedding receptions or at a 60th birthday party.

Anyway, Yaksik used to one of my favorite childhood Korean desserts! This is also perfect for on the go breakfast or snacks and even suitable for gift giving as well.

What is in Yaksik (Yakbap)

As you can gather from the descriptive name – sweet rice with dried fruit and nuts – the main ingredients are sweet rice (short grain glutinous rice), dried fruit (e.g. jujubes and raisins/sultanas) and nuts (e.g. chestnuts and pine nuts).

However other types of dried fruit and nuts (e.g. cranberries, walnuts, pecan, sunflower seeds etc.) can be used alternatively.

For sauce, honey and/or dark brown sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil and cinnamon powder is used.

The texture is quite soft and sticky. The flavor is sweet, slightly salty and loaded with healthy dried fruit and nuts. The aroma from sesame oil adds a marvellous heavenly sensation as well.

When I gave this Yaksik to my daughter for the first time the other day, she was all very excited because she thought she was getting a piece of western style cake. But once she bit a little bit, she made a really funny look – ‘what did you just give me? this is no cake! I was cheated!’. It was really funny watching her disappointed face. Immediately after that, she said she doesn’t like it so she gave it back to me.

Then a few hours later, I was enjoying Yaksik for my afternoon tea and my daughter asked what I was having? I told her it’s Yaksik. Then she told me she wants to try some. I reminded her that she didn’t like it earlier but I still offered some. She bit it and she shouted aloud, “I love it!” And since then she loves eating Yaksik.

So why am I sharing this story? … If you or your family members are not used to having this kind of Korean sweet dessert, you/they might not like it in the first instance, but it can grow on you pretty quickly. Only time will tell. 🙂

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this sweet treat!

P.S. I used my Cuckoo rice cooker for the recipe below. Alternatively, you can use other programmable pressure cookers such as an instant pot or even a stove top based pressure cooker.

Ingredients for Korean Sweet Rice with Dried Fruit and Nuts (for 9 large bars)

Main

3 cups* sweet rice (short grain glutinous rice)
2 cups* water
2 Tbsp pine nuts
15 chestnuts (about 120g, 4.2 ounces) – skin peeled and cut into 3 or 4 smaller pieces (I used frozen ones, which are available from a Korean grocery store. You can use fresh ones if you can get them. A tinned version is also available from Korean grocery stores.)
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup dried cranberries
10 dried pitted jujubes (red dates) – rinsed and halved

Seasoning sauce (mix these in a bowl)

1 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp honey
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
2 Tbsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/8 tsp fine sea salt

Decoration (number of required ingredients will vary depending on the size of each bar piece)

1 Tbsp pine nuts
2 to 3 dried pitted jujubes – rinsed and cut vertically in one corner and roll it up. thinly sliced

Measurement

1 cup* = 180 ml (using rice measuring cup). This is equivalent to 3/4 standard measuring cup.
1 Tbsp = 15 ml, 1/3 cup = 80 ml, 1/4 cup = 60 ml

How to Make Korean Sweet Rice With Dried Fruit And Nuts

1. Put the sweet rice into the rice cooker pot and rinse it with cold running water a couple of times (until the water is clear). Drain the water.

2. Add the cooking water and the seasoning sauce into the rice cooker pot and mix them well.

3. Add the nuts and fruit on top. Make sure these are evenly spread in the pot.

4. Set the “multi steam” function for 35 mins and cook. – This is based on my cuckoo rice cooker setting.

5. Once it’s all cooked, gently stir and mix around the rice, dried fruit and nuts with a rice scoop. Put them into a medium sized square or rectangle mould. (I just used a pyrex container. You can also use a baking mould.) Cool down for 20 to 30 mins in the mould.

6. Tip the mould over the cutting board and get the Yaksik out. Decorate Yaksik with pine nuts and sliced jujube with a large gap in between. (Decoration is optional. Imagine the cutting by size first to allow enough room for decoration and cutting. If you’re making smaller ones, you will have to decorate more.)

7. Slice the Yaksik into your preferred size.

8. Serve. For Yaksik that are not for immediate consumption, wrap them individually with food wrap, store them in a container and keep it in the fridge (for a few days) or freezer (up to a few months).

Note

As I mentioned earlier, this recipe is used with my rice cooker, which is a short cut way of making Yaksik. The traditional (steamer) method can take 7-10 hours of prepping and cooking time. Rest assured, my recipe version tastes just as good as the traditional method! 🙂
Yaksik shape can be round or square. It doesn’t have to be rectangular. You can even use any shapes of cookie cutter (e.g. heart) to make your favourite shaped Yaksik. In this occasion, the decoration will have to be done after the cutting.
While Yaksik can be consumed cold (straight from the fridge), it tastes better if it was left out at room temperature for 20 to 30 mins to soften a bit. If it was kept in the freezer, take them out and thaw for 3 to 4 hours at room temperature. (They can be left out overnight for breakfast the next day.) It is microwavable (about 2 mins if it was frozen).
If you want softer and stickier textured Yaksik and/or if you’re going to store it for more than 2 days, I recommend soaking the rice for 1 hr before cooking (after step 1).

Korean Sweet Rice with Dried Fruit and Nuts