

(Thank you, I get a small commission if you buy through my store). Taiyaki or Bungeoppang (fish-shaped) pan openedīTW, by the wonders of the internet and amazon, you can buy the pan HERE in my Amazon store.


I actually never thought to make Bungeoppang at home because I did not have the fish-shaped taiyaki (bungeoppang) pan but a good friend was happy to lend it to me so here we are~ 🙂 Taiyaki or Bungeoppang (fish-shaped) pan closed Now, I personally like the Korean version better because the plain bread gives me a break from all the sweetness of the filling and also lets me savor the flavor of the dough whereas with the filling, the dough is totally pushed into the background. Here is a pic that I took of a Bungeoppang vendor near Tongin market, Seoul. So what difference does that make? The BIG difference is that the Japanese version has the red bean filling all the way to the end of the tail whereas the Korean fish shaped bread has red bean filled only in the mid section because there is no room to fill the tail section with the red bean.Īnd for some reason, Bungeoppang has always been a street food. But more interestingly, I noticed while looking thru many images- why I did this, I don’t know, it’s probably the GEEK in me taking over- that the Taiyaki is much thicker and has uniform thickness throughout whereas the Bungeoppang is lot more realistic looking in that the tail, head and fins all thin out at the edges. But somehow the type of fish is different – Tai in Taiyaki refers to Sea Bream and Bungeo in Bungeoppang refers to Crucian Carp. They are very similar in that both use fish-shaped mold to make the bread and then also uses sweet red beans as its classic filling. So most likely theory is that this fish-shaped bread has its origins in Japanese Taiyaki. And it’s always so hard to wait until they become cool but not too cool.īTW, I’m not sure why Koreans just LOVE such HOT foods.I mean the danger of burning your mouth is everywhere – crazy boiling jjigae that you get, especially hot boiling soft tofu stew!! I mean, it’s not enough that the broth is piping HOT but the soft tofu is even HOTTER!! Everytime I have soft tofu stew, it never fails, I always burn my tongue… And then there is the HOT dolsot (stone pot) bibimbap and also the fried rice that comes right from the pan after grilling meat, they are all sooo good but it’s also soooo HOT!! It’s a good thing our tongue and mouth is able to heal quickly because otherwise, many Koreans will not be able to eat too frequently.haha. Just like Hotteok (left pic) had it’s lava syrup filling, I think I have burned my mouth many times eating the bungeoppang. Korean Sweet Pancake – Hotteok/Hodduck (호떡) And CAUTION!!! – the red bean is extremely HOT inside. The dough is a slightly crispy on the outside, chewy and spongy on the inside with the red bean filling giving you a burst of sweetness. It is essentially the same thing, pancake like batter baked in a oval shaped mold with red bean filling inside. Instead, Ohbangtteok (오방떡) was everywhere. Bungeoppang in Korea has been around since 1930’s and somehow when I was in college, they weren’t really popular. Or I guess you can always call it “whatchamacallit”! haha.that is becoming more of my favorite word these days…īungeoppang (pronounced “boong + uh + paang”붕어빵) or Ingeoppang( pronounced “ing + uh + paang” 잉어빵) is the Korean name for it.

Fish-shaped cake with sweet read beans- Bungeoppang (붕어빵) or Taiyaki – decorated for Christmasįish-shaped bread with sweet red bean filling is probably what you will say if you were trying to describe this cute Korean snack to someone if you didn’t know the name.
