Chuseok Songpyeon Half-Moon Rice Cakes (송편)
Why this food?
The half-moon rice cakes made every Chuseok — filled with sesame-honey and steamed over pine needles. Every K-drama family holiday episode ends with everyone making these together at the kitchen table.
🇰🇷 K-Culture Tip
Making songpyeon together as a family is one of Korea's most important holiday rituals — grandmothers, parents, and children all around the kitchen table on the night before Chuseok. There's a folk belief that the shape of your songpyeon predicts your future: a well-shaped one means you'll have beautiful children or good luck. Chuseok is often called 'Korean Thanksgiving' but it's as much about ancestral respect as harvest celebration.
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Substitute Ingredients
All available at Walmart
| Original | Substitute |
|---|---|
Rice flour 쌀가루 | Mochiko sweet rice flour Koda Farms Mochiko is the closest substitute — regular flour will not work Shop at Walmart |
Sesame seeds (filling) 참깨 | Sesame seeds McCormick Toast lightly in dry pan first for deeper flavor Shop at Walmart |
Honey (filling) 꿀 | Pure honey Binds the sesame filling together and adds sweetness Shop at Walmart |
🛒 Can't find it at Walmart? Try a Korean grocery store
Your Shopping List
Walmart edition
- 2 cups Mochiko sweet rice flour
- 3 tablespoons Sesame seeds
- 2 tablespoons Pure honey
Instructions
- 1
Mix rice cake dough: 2 cups rice flour (mochiko) + 1/2 cup boiling water + pinch salt, knead until smooth — add water 1 tbsp at a time until it resembles soft playdough
- 2
Make filling: mix 3 tbsp sesame seeds + 2 tbsp honey + pinch salt
- 3
Pinch off walnut-sized pieces of dough, flatten in palm into a small disc
- 4
Place 1 tsp filling in center, fold over and seal edges firmly — shape into a crescent
- 5
Line steamer with damp cheesecloth or cabbage leaves
- 6
Steam songpyeon 20 minutes until slightly translucent
- 7
Brush immediately with sesame oil — the shine is essential
