Yakgwa

Ingredients

• 250g plain flour
• 1/4 tsp fine salt
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 5 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 4 tbsp honey
• 3 tbsp Korean rice wine or sake
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger juice
• 700ml neutral oil, for frying
• 200g honey, for the syrup
• 100ml water, for the syrup
• 60g sugar, for the syrup
• 3 thin slices fresh ginger, for the syrup
• 1 tbsp pine nuts, finely chopped, to decorate

Before you cook

• Sift the flour with the salt, pepper and cinnamon into a bowl
• Grate a knob of ginger and squeeze it through muslin to get 1 tbsp of juice
• Simmer the syrup honey, water, sugar and ginger slices together for 5 minutes, then cool it completely
• Line a tray with baking paper

Steps

1. Rub the sesame oil into the sifted flour with your fingertips until the mixture looks like damp sand with no dry patches.
2. Push this mixture through a coarse sieve to break up any lumps, which is what gives yakgwa its flaky layers.
3. Whisk the 4 tablespoons of honey with the rice wine and ginger juice.
4. Pour the liquid over the flour and fold it in with a spatula only until it just comes together, handling it as little as possible.
5. Press the dough into a block, wrap it, and rest it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
6. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to 1cm thick.
7. Fold the sheet in three like a letter, then roll it out again to 1cm thick, and repeat this fold and roll once more.
8. Cut the sheet into 4cm squares or stamp out rounds with a cutter.
9. Prick each piece two or three times right through with a skewer so it cooks evenly and does not balloon.
10. Heat the neutral oil in a deep pan to 100C, which is much cooler than normal frying.
11. Slide in half the pieces and let them sit for 8 minutes; they will slowly float to the surface.
12. Raise the oil temperature to 150C and fry for another 6 minutes until the cookies are an even amber brown.
13. Lift the cookies out with a slotted spoon and drop them straight into the cooled ginger syrup.
14. Fry the second batch the same way and add it to the syrup too.
15. Leave the cookies to soak for at least 3 hours, turning them once, so the syrup penetrates to the centre.
16. Lift them onto a rack and let the excess syrup drip off for 20 minutes.
17. Sprinkle the chopped pine nuts over the tops and serve them at room temperature with tea.