cranberry yakshik {sticky rice cakes}

hey friends!

i don’t know if it has been the same for you, but the time between thanksgiving and new years this year has always felt like a mad flurry.

i’m a professional hardcore crammer, and i’ve somehow managed to not apply what i learned about procrastinating from all the past years to this year. old habits die hard man. currently, if you were to crack open my brain, you’d find attempts at making last minute plans to catch up with friends in nyc, a list of five thousand errands, project plans for next year, calendar invites for the holidays, debates on what shoes to wear to the holiday party, gifts that i need to buy, wrap and send, errands that need to be run…you get the point. it’s pretty much a nuthouse.

in an effort to calm down, i did a mental exercise with merman this morning and took inventory of where i spend my time and what i can marie kondo and that didn’t really help. how do you manage your stress and all of the everyday and aspirational things you need to get done? i’m raising my hand here for some pointers!

it’s been especially crazy because i’ve been ramping up at my new job at squarespace this past week. it’s been a week of reading through documents, meeting new coworkers, and wrapping my brain around how i can contribute and have impact. it’s still hard to believe that i get to have the opportunity to work at a company that built the product i used to create dearsaturdays.

i don’t mean to dump the mental beating i’ve been going through in the past few weeks, but it helps to be able to look back at this post in the future to remind myself to get ahead of planning so that we can avoid this next year ;)

anyways - cranberry yakshik! did you have leftover cranberries? i sure did and they’re very much in season so you can add this tart brightness to your yakshik. if you didn’t know, yakshik translates to “medicine food” in korean, and this sticky rice cake snack is supposed to make you feel better given that it has nuts, seeds, and fruits sprinkled throughout. it’s a savory-sweet rice cake that kind of reminds me of granola but like the sticky rice version.

i have so many memories eating yakshik on new years, birthday parties, and weddings. the most prominent memory i have though is of my mom packing them in cupcake liners so that i can enjoy them on my flight back home to nyc and also store in the freezer to thaw and enjoy as a snack when i didn’t have any energy to make food. i hope you give this festive yakshik with cranberries, pumpkin seeds, and chestnuts a try this holiday season…though, the bright pink color may confuse your halmoney and eemos! :d

cranberry yakshik

ingredients 

sticky rice

2.5 cups soaked chapsal (sweet glutenous rice)

cranberry syrup

12 oz fresh rinsed cranberries

1 cup cane sugar

1/3 cup water

yakshik syrup

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

3 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon sea salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

dried fruits and nuts

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup toasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas)

1/3 cup sliced and pitted dried jujube dates

10 cooked chestnuts quartered

garnishing

1 tablespoon of black sesame seeds

2 tablespoons pepita seeds

notes

prep work: 12 hours before cooking or serving, soak sticky rice in a bowl with water two inches above the top line of the rice.

1. steam rice: line the bottom of a steamer with a cheese cloth or towel, transfer soaked rice, and fold edges of cheese cloth over the center. pour 8 cups of water into your pot, place steamer with wrapped rice atop, bring water up to a boil, and steam for about 45 minutes or until it’s fully softened and cooked through.

2. cranberry sauce: in a medium sized sauce pan, bring cranberries, sugar, and water up to a medium heat. stir continuously until cranberries have popped. continue stirring until the sauce has thickened and the volume has reduced by half.

3. yakshik syrup and assembly: whisk soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, sea salt, and cinnamon together in a mixing bowl until combined. incorporate cranberry sauce into the yakshik syrup. then, using a spatula, fold in steamed rice, ensuring that each grain of rice is covered with the sauce. toss in all dried fruits and nuts and give a few good folds until all bits are evenly distributed.

4. molding: line a 9.5x13 sheet pan with plastic wrap, leaving roughly three inches extra on each edge. transfer the sticky rice and cover the top by folding the edges of plastic wrap over. using the sheet pan as a mold, compress the rice using your hands.

5. serving: once the rice feels packed and firmer in shape, peel back the top layer of the plastic wrap, place a serving dish or cutting board on top, flip over, set down, and remove the sheet pan and plastic wrap. cut into squares, decorate using dried seeds and nuts, and serve! tip: if you can’t finish the yakshik in a day or two, wrap each square individually and place it in the freezer. these yakshik babies surprisingly thaw pretty nicely!