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Yakshik is traditional Korean sweet rice dessert with jujube, chestnut, and seeds.

Korean Sweet Rice with Dried Fruit and Nuts (Yakshik)

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Korean sweet rice cake (yakshik) is made with sticky rice, jujube, chestnut, and other nuts. An instant pot makes this authentic recipe extremely easy and quick to prepare. It also serves as a good breakfast or snack.
Course Breakfast, Dessert, Snack
Cuisine Korean
Diet Gluten Free, Halal, Hindu, Kosher, Low Salt, Vegan, Vegetarian
Keyword sweet rice, sweet rice cake, yakshik
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 10 people
Calories 139
Author Holly Ford

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Rinse sweet rice several times and soak the rice in water for 10 minutes. Drain the rice and set aside.
  • Cut the chestnut in halves or quarters depending on the size. Set them aside.
  • Cut the flesh off of dried jujube to separate it from the seeds. Set the flesh on the side and collect the seeds. Put the seeds in a small pot and pour in 2 cups of water. Bring it to boil and simmer for 5 minutes. The water will become dark amber. Discard the jujube seeds and reserve the stock.
  • Pour the jujube stock into an instant pot. Add soy sauce, dark soy sauce (if using), honey (or brown sugar), and cinnamon; stir well until combined.
  • Add the rice, chestnut, and jujube flesh to the stock and mix well. Close the lid and set the instant pot to a rice setting (or 12 minutes on manual setting). Make sure to seal the vent.
  • When cooking is done, move the vent to quick release and let the steam escape. Open the lid and add the pine nuts and pumpkin seeds (or other nuts and seeds of your choice). Drizzle sesame oil and gently toss everything well.
  • Grease a 9-inch squire pan (or similar in size) with sesame oil. Put the rice mixture into the pan and press down with spatula or rice scoop. Let it sit on a wired rack to cool.
  • When fully cooled, turn out the rice on a cutting board and cut into desired size bars. You can garnish with jujube flowers and more seeds as you wish.

Notes

If you don’t have an instant pot, you can use an electric rice cooker to achieve a similar result, or try with the traditional steaming method. You will have to soak the rice for 6-8 hours beforehand, though, since both method have no pressure to speed up the cooking.
  1. Rice cooker method - Combine soaked rice with caramel sauce mixture, jujube and chestnut. Cook with your regular rice setting, about 25-30 minutes. Add nuts, seeds, sesame oil and toss. Proceed to cooling.
  2. Steaming method - Steam soaked rice in the steamer for 40 minutes. Mix steamed rice with sauce mixture, jujube, and chestnut. Steam again for 30 minutes. Mix in the nuts, seeds, sesame oil and toss. Proceed to cooling.
If using roasted chestnut in the package, add them in the last step of cooking together with nuts and seeds.

Nutrition

Calories: 139kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Sodium: 246mg | Potassium: 113mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 4IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 16mg | Iron: 1mg