I'm in Cheonan right now and every time I come down here, I like to put the large oven to use. My mom and I wanted to bake something to give to the superintendent ajushis as a small thank you/lunar new year gift.
Since we figured they would like something a bit healthy & Korean-ish, we baked some daechu (aka, "jujube") quickbread! We were inspired by a recipe for 'Daechu Cake' from the Korean vegan baking book '채식배이킹,' but we pretty much did our own thing and made it healthier and more substantial. All in all, I think our little experiment turned out surprisingly well!
By the way, daechu (대추) is a specific type of date that is commonly used in Korean herbal medicine, and supposedly has properties that reduce stress. So if your hakwon kids are driving you nuts, eat more daechu! Or make this quickbread. :)
Vegan Daechu (Jujube) Quickbread
make 1 small-medium sized loaf.
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
16 dried whole daechu (about 3/4 cup, or 1/2 cup chopped)
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup soymilk
1/3 cup canola oil
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
Preheat oven to 175C or 350F
1. Gently scrub the daechu under running water to get any dust particles out of the crevices. Soak the daechu and raisins in water for about 20 minutes.
2. De-seed the daechu and slice them into small chunks.
3. In a large bowl, mix all the wet ingredients together, along with the salt and sugar.
4. In a separate bowl, measure and stir all the dry ingredients together, and then sift into the wet ingredients. Mix until just incorporated.
5. Add the chopped daechu, raisins (gently squeeze excess water out), and chopped walnuts.
6. Pour/spoon the batter into prepared baking pans or muffin tin (it will be fairly thick). Bake at 175C for 25 minutes (for mini loaves), or until toothpick comes out clean.
I really like how this turned out and will definitely be making it again. Some people don't like the taste of daechu cuz they can be a little bitter (an acquired taste, perhaps?), but I love their unique flavor. They definitely add a certain traditional, 'herbal medicine' twist, and they make me feel healthy, balanced, and mature.^^ Moreover, we only used whole wheat flour and not much sugar- most of the sweetness comes from the raisins. Gotta love healthified quickbreads!
We also turned some of the batter into muffins, which were laaahvely~ we kept these babies for ourselves and enjoyed them as a mid-morning snack.
I topped mine with marmalade jam. Scrumptious.
Anywayyy~ Wow, it took me forever to write this post because I'm in a bit of a food coma right now from so much yummy lunar new year's food. Photos to come soon, but til then, happy holz, and don't forget to cook some vegan tteok mandu guk so that you can gracefully gain another year!
Bunny says "Happy Lunar New Year! It's the Year of the Rabbit , yo! Whut whut!"