Bungeoppang Fish-Shaped Korean Street Food (POPULAR in Korea!)
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Korean street food fish-shaped pastry filled with a combination of sweet red bean and green tea matcha pudding. Have it when still hot for crunchy edges and a soft warm filling.
Everyone who’s been to Korea knows bungeoppang! These fish pastries/buns are sold by the small merchants in the streets of Seoul. These are just as popular as these trendy Korean corn dogs. It’s been quite a while since I could not go back to Korea and have these! But luckily my Korean grocery stores sell the ice cream version, which I’m also in love with! I love Asian pastries in general, they are in general much less sweet than pastries in Western countries.
Recently I came across this fish-shaped mold on Amazon, it reminded me how much I miss Korean street food. So I went ahead and purchased it to enjoy some bungeoppang at home.
What is bungeoppang?
Bungeoppang 붕어빵 literally means carp bread. 붕어 bungeo refers to a type of carp fish – which is the reason why its mouth looks a little sad just like a carp’s mouth – while 빵 ppang means bread. Japanese also make these and call them taiyaki.
These cute fish-shaped pastries/buns are a very popular street food snack, that you find particularly in the winter. The best thing when wandering outside in winter is finding some of those in street stalls and warming up eating these delicious treats! They are different versions, some smaller or some bigger like the ones we made in this recipe. When small size, you normally get a whole bunch of them for just a buck or two.
Which type of filling can I use?
In this recipe, I am making a matcha green tea pudding/custard combined with some red bean paste. Just like the ice cream fish sold in many Korean grocery stores which has some matcha ice cream inside and red bean paste.
Make sure you buy the rough red bean paste 팥 (pat) don’t confuse it with the smoother red bean paste sold in Asian grocery stores that does not contain any bean chunks in it. In fact, you could use any of them, but the texture of the rough red bean paste suits better these fish pastries.
You can use other variations of fillings:
- vanilla custard
- red bean paste only
- savory fillings such as cheese with minced meat and tomato sauce, just like a pizza topping
- ham and cheese
- Nutella
- or any fillings you fancy
If making savory bungeoppang, make sure to omit sugar from the batter recipe.
How to prepare Korean fish-shaped pastry?
Make the pudding
- In a bowl, mix egg, sugar and flour together.
- In another small bowl, sift the matcha powder to obtain a fine powder and avoid it from forming lumps later on.
- In a saucepan, combine milk and vanilla essence together. Before heating it up, remove 3 tbsp milk and add it to the matcha powder. Whisk matcha powder and milk together until it becomes lump-free.
- Pour the matcha mix into the saucepan containing the milk. Whisk together.
- Heat up the saucepan on medium-high heat. When the milk starts boiling and bubbles appear, pour the egg mixture in and whisk for 1-2 minutes until the consistency thickens up.
- Transfer pudding into a bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Make the batter
- Mix flour with salt and baking powder.
- Beat the egg with the sugar. Add milk and water then beat with the egg.
- Sift the flour into the egg/milk mixture, and whisk together until the batter becomes lump-free.
- Turn the heat on low. Oil the mold. Once it is becoming hot, pour some batter to cover ⅓ of the mold, add your filling in the center, and fill in the rest of the mold. Close the mold and turn it right away on the other side so that the batter is still liquid enough to coat the other side of the fish. Cook it for 4-5 min, turn the mold around and cook the other side for 4-5 min.
- Check if the fish is golden, if not cook each side a bit longer.
- I added some edible food coloring to draw the eyes and lips of the fish as I had those pens at home, however, this is totally optional.
Do you love Korean street food? Check these
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Bungeoppang Fish-Shaped Korean Street Food
Equipment
Ingredients
- 8 tsp Korean red bean paste
batter
- 170 g flour
- 100 ml milk
- 170 ml water
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 egg
- a pinch of salt
- cooking oil | for oiling mold
pudding
- ½ egg
- 20 g sugar
- 7 g flour
- 90 ml milk
- 1 tsp matcha powder
Instructions
Make the pudding
- In a bowl, mix egg, sugar and flour together.
- In another small bowl, sift the matcha powder to obtain a fine powder and avoid it from forming lumps later on.
- In a saucepan, combine milk and vanilla essence together. Before heating it up, remove 3 tbsp milk and add it to the matcha powder. Whisk matcha powder and milk together until it becomes lump-free.
- Pour the matcha mix into the saucepan containing the milk. Whisk together.
- Heat up the saucepan on medium-high heat. When the milk starts boiling and bubbles appear, pour the egg mixture in and whisk for 1-2 minutes until the consistency thickens up.
- Transfer pudding into a bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Make the batter
- Mix flour with salt and baking powder.
- Beat the egg with the sugar. Add milk and water then beat with the egg.
- Sift the flour into the egg/milk mixture, and whisk together until the batter becomes lump-free.
- Turn the heat on low. Oil the mold. Once it is becoming hot, pour some batter to cover ⅓ of the mould, add your filling in the centre, and fill in the rest of the mould. Close the mould and turn it right away on the other side so that the batter is still liquid enough to coat the other side of the fish. Cook it for 4-5 min, turn the mould around and cook the other side for 4-5 min.
- Check if the fish is golden, if not cook each side a bit longer.
