[Pre-180, Be a Food Blogger]Cooking Korean Old School Candy, Ppoggi

Ppopgi (뽑기) or the old-fashioned (vintage) Korean sugar candy is one of my all-time favourites. Made from the two main ingredients of white sugar and baking soda, the snack is simple, yet tasty. I could remember buying the 1000 Won treat off the streets of Myeongdong almost every other day during my last two trips to Seoul. (Ps: The agasshis at Myeongdong make good ppopgis using the gas stove. )

(Photograph Credits to :http://bigbangscenario.tumblr.com/post/76280341653/fun-question-i-know-you-one-of-you-fellow-admins)

Well, as it had been a while since I last tried the Korean ppopgi, I missed it so much that I decided to make some at home. :) Plenty of ppopgi recipes were available via Google, and I came across this recipe by Maangchi which I felt was both simple, easy understand and easy to follow:

"Ingredients

1. 1½ tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon white or brown sugar
2. a pinch of baking soda

Directions

1. Place sugar in a stainless steel ladle and heat it over medium heat until it starts to melt.
2. Stir it with a spoon so it melts evenly and doesn’t burn. Control the heat by lifting the ladle far from the heat or bringing it closer, as needed.
3. Stir the melting sugar until it turns into a smooth, clear liquid with no lumps.
4. Add baking soda and continue stirring. It will expand and change from light brown to creamy golden beige.
5. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon sugar on a cookie pan. Scrape the hot, foamy candy from the ladle onto  a sugar coated cookie pan.
6. Place a skewer or lollipop stick in the center of the lower part of the candy, 1 inch from the edge.
7. Press it down with any smooth, flat, non-stick object like a stainless steel bowl, lid, or a spatula.
8. Use a cookie cutter to press a pattern into the center of the candy. Press hard and make a good impression if you want them to break out the design easily, and press softly if you want to drive them crazy!
9. Wait for 1 minute until the candy gets hard. Enjoy!"

(Credits to http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/ppopgi)

I made a couple of adaptations to the original recipe as I didn't have cookie cutter, lollipop sticks or a flat non-stick object. So I thought of making ppopgis without the above. I've also changed some things to the cooking method, which I'll explain why below. :)

Opting for the 'healthier' brown sugar option, I added 1.5 tablespoon brown sugar into a small metal pot. Rationale for using a metal pot as opposed to using a metal ladle? Using a metal pot eliminates the need to hold the metal ladle continuously, which could be tiring if you're making many many ppopgis for the day.

Then using the conventional household stove (use the smallest stove), I turned the stove to low heat, and stirred the brown sugar continuously for around 3-5 minutes until the mixture melts into a brown liquid. Be careful not to heat the sugar too much, else it'll burn, leaving a bitter taste behind. :)

I turned off the heat thereafter and added a pinch of baking soda. Do note that the amount of baking soda has to be just the right amount. Adding too little baking soda will make the ppopgi less crispy, and at times too hard and difficult to eat, while adding way more than one pinch will cause the ppopgi to taste a little metallic (as baking soda is actually sodium bicarbonate).

As I didn't have a metal non-stick tray with me, I used a plate. Sprinkling some sugar on the plate (to prevent the ppopgis from sticking to the plate), I carefully poured in the sugar-baking soda mixture, and pressed the mixture down slowly and lightly with a metal spoon. (Note: pressinng the mixture too quickly and with too much force may cause the mixture to stick onto the spoon.) Conventionally, ppopgis are palm-sized, but to make the ppopgis easy to share, I did bite sized ones as seen below. 

As well as this one which I did for myself. I made a super big round ppopgi before breaking them into small bite-sized pieces and storing them in a box.

To clean up, I added water to my metal pot, which already by then had caramelised sugar bits stuck on it. Turn the stove on medium heat and try to dissolve all of the sugar. The pot should be much easier to clean after that! :) Then everything's done, and I got quite a bit of tasty ppopgis to eat and share! :D

Hwaiting to everyone who is  looking forward to making some tasty ppopgis! :D