Sweet Rice Donut Holes

Do you think 3 dollars is too much for a doughnut hole at a Korean bakery? Today, I will teach you how to make irresistibly delicious Korean homemade sweet rice donuts called “chapssal donuts” in Korean. One day one of my Korean friends told me that she loves these a lot, but they are too expensive to buy at the Tous Les Jours Bakery inside H-Mart. I normally don’t buy stuff at the bakery there, but when I heard that it’s 3 dollars per piece, it was a jaw dropping experience for me. It shouldn’t be that expensive to make, considering the ingredients. You can buy a whole American donut for less than a dollar. I thought I definitely should make a recipe for this to share with my viewers, because I know there are many out there who love this kind of Asian dessert. Unlike normal donuts, these use sweet rice flour instead of wheat flour, so the texture is a little crunchy on the outside, but soft and chewy on the inside. Also, it has a sweet red bean paste filling, which makes this donut unique, and it will make you fall in love with it. Even though I called it a Korean donut, actually other Asian countries have similar types of donuts with different fillings and coatings. Try this popular Asian sweet rice donuts at home someday.

Yield: 16 Pieces

Short Korean Lesson

• GeunSi (근시) = Nearsighted
• YakSi (약시) = Lazy Eye

Video Instructions

Main Ingredients:

• 1 Generous Cup Sweet Red Bean Paste
• Cooking Oil for Deep Frying
• ¼ Cup White Sugar for Coating (Optional)

Dough Ingredients:

• 1½ Cups Sweet Rice Flour
• ¼ Cup All Purpose Flour
• 1 Cup Boiling Water
• ¼ Cup Sugar
• 1 Tbsp Salted Butter (Optional)
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• ½ tsp Salt
• ¼ tsp Baking Soda

Directions

Most of the ingredients are very common, so you probably already have them in your kitchen, except maybe the sweet red bean paste and sweet rice flour.

You can can make the sweet red bean paste (Pat AngGeum) at home using my recipe, or you can buy it in a Korean grocery store. I like both of them but, sometimes the store bought versions are too sweet for my tastes, and in that case, it’s better to make it at home so that I can adjust the sweetness.

Anyway, we need about 1 generous cup of sweet red bean
paste. Take about 1 Tbsp worth of it and make a small round ball. You need about 16 pieces.

Add all the dry ingredients for the dough in a large mixing bowl: 1½ cups sweet rice flour, ¼ cup all-purpose flour, ¼ cup sugar, 1 tsp baking powder, ½ tsp salt, and ¼ tsp baking soda. This is the Korean brand of sweet rice flour that I normally use, but you can also use this sweet rice flour that I see a lot in American supermarkets. These are both good, so I will add the links for the ingredients in the description box.

A key point for the dough is that we have to use boiling water to get the perfect texture. Pour 1 cup of boiling water into the dry ingredients. Then add 1 tablespoon of butter and stir it gently with a spatula.

After it has cooled down a little, knead the dough with your hands or a silicone spatula. You do not have to knead the dough for very long – just knead it until all the ingredients are mixed well enough that you can form the dough into a ball.

Flatten the top of the dough in the mixing bowl. Then divide it like you are cutting a pie into 16 portions with a spatula.

Take out a piece of the dough and form it into a ball.

Flattened the dough in your hand into about a 3-inch diameter.

Place a bean paste ball in the center and wrap the dough around the bean paste. Since the dough is soft, it can be stretched out easily while you are wrapping the bean paste.

Seal the top tightly and then roll the rice ball around in your hands to form it into a nice shape and smooth the surface. It’s ready to deep fry now. Do the same thing for the rest of the dough. When half of the donut holes are made, start preheating the cooking oil on medium.

After the oil has been heated, put each donut hole in the oil one by one. Be careful not to burn yourself.

Deep fry the donuts for about 8 minutes on medium. Every now and then, stir them around so that they will cook evenly.

After 8 minutes, the donuts should be nicely golden brown. Take them out of the oil and put them on a plate with some paper towels. Let them cool down a little.

You can optionally coat them with granular sugar to make them look more appetizing.

 

It was a guilty pleasure in Aeri’s kitchen this week. I don’t recommend eating these often, but I think it is forgivable to enjoy these amazingly delicious donuts sometimes as a special occasion. They are delicious both warm and cool, so you can take these to a party or event. Enjoy them!