Chapssaltteok

Wash one cup of red beans, add three cups of water, cover and cook over high heat.

Ten minutes later lower the heat to really low and simmer until the beans are fully cooked and mash easily; it took one hour twenty minutes and all the water evaporated.

Mash the cooked beans; a wooden spoon does for a small amount, or run them through a food processor for a minute.

Return the mashed beans to the heat with three quarters of a cup of brown sugar, a quarter teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of vanilla, and cook on low until the sugar melts.

Stir in two tablespoons of rice syrup until the filling is dark and a little shiny, then turn it off.

Portion the filling into 16 same-sized balls on saran wrap.

Mix three quarters of a cup of water with a cup of sweet rice flour, a quarter teaspoon of salt, a tablespoon of sugar and a tiny amount of red food colouring, stirring until the colour dissolves to an even pink.

Cover with wrap, leaving a gap for steam to escape, and cook on high for three minutes.

The centre is still white and uncooked, so mix it for about twenty seconds, cover and cook one more minute.

Stir vigorously in a circular motion about a hundred times so the rice cake becomes chewy and elastic.

Dust the cutting board with starch powder, turn the rice cake out onto it and turn it over so it does not stick to your hands. Keep it covered with wrap while you work.

Flatten a piece of rice cake around a ball of sweet red bean filling and seal it -- the rice cake is sticky enough to seal easily -- then roll it into a neat ball.