Yakbap (Sweet Rice with Dates and Nuts)
Yakbap, sometimes called yaksik, is a Korean sweet served at holidays and first-birthday tables: glutinous rice steamed with dried fruit, nuts, cinnamon, and a mix of brown sugar, honey, and soy sauce until it turns dark and chewy. The sweeteners are the easy part to rethink. Dates blended into a paste bring both the sugar and the color, raisins add their own concentrated sweetness, and walnuts stand in for the pine nuts and chestnuts. Built on short-grain brown rice, it keeps the bran and eats like a dense, spiced snack-cake, and it travels well, which is why it has always been food for a crowd.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups short grain brown rice
- 6 wholes Medjool dates, pitted, 2 chopped and 4 for paste
- 1/3 cup Raisins
- 1/3 cup Walnuts, chopped
- 1 tsp cassia cinnamon, ground
- 1 tbsp Sesame seeds, toasted
Method
- Rinse the rice and cook it in 2.25 cups (530 ml) water, covered, about 35 minutes, until tender and sticky. Short-grain brown rice clings on its own when cooked with a little less water than usual, which is what lets the finished sweet hold together in squares without the polished glutinous rice tradition calls for.
- Blend 4 of the dates with 0.5 cup (120 ml) hot water into a smooth paste. The paste does two jobs at once: it sweetens, and its deep caramel color is what gives yakbap the dark tone that brown sugar and soy sauce usually provide.
- Fold the date paste, chopped dates, raisins, walnuts, and cinnamon through the warm rice until evenly streaked. Working it in while the rice is hot lets the grains drink up the fruit sugars instead of leaving them sitting on top.
- Pack the mixture into a small heatproof dish, cover, and steam over simmering water 25 minutes. This second steaming is the real step: it melds the dried fruit into the rice and deepens both the color and the sweetness far beyond a quick stir.
- Press the hot rice firmly into an even layer, cool until set, then cut into squares and dust with toasted sesame. It firms as it cools, so pressing while hot is what gives you clean squares rather than a loose scoop.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 250 calories, 5 g protein, 4 g fiber, 10 mg sodium. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement. How these are computed.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt. How this is computed.
