Haioreum Korean Pancake with Sweet Rice

It's been a while! I have been busy as all get out, both at work and at home, and since our last move, we haven't been dim-summing quite as much! I can't say I think I'll be posting as frequently as before, as I do end up re-buying a lot of the same stuff, but I will make more of an effort in the next couple months!

So, these Cakes are again pretty much the same as the Green Tea and Corn and Barley versions. Chewy, slightly dense donut-y cake with a thin sweet and mild filling. The flavor for the filling of these is not as distinct as the others, but it's still good! I think my overall favorite has been the corn flavor.

Score: 3.5/5 - I can barely tell this flavor from the other equally enjoyable Haioreum pancakes, but yeah, it's good.

Haioreum Korean Pancake with Barley

So, these Cakes are again pretty much the same as the Green Tea and Corn versions. Chewy, slightly dense donut-y cake with a thin sweet and mild filling. I only detected the barley flavor because of the power of suggestion, but it's still good!

Score: 4/5 - I can barely tell this flavor from the other equally enjoyable Haioreum pancakes, but yeah, it's good.

Haioreum Korean Cake with Green Tea

So, these Cakes with Green Tea are very much like the Corn version. A variation on the theme, as it were. The texture was identical, the same dense donut disk with a medium thickness filling with soft lumps. The filling was identical filling, sweet with a hint of cinnamon, with the bits adding a little flavor but not much. After reading the package, the filling seems to have some amount of nuts in it. The cake part was very lightly flavored with green tea, but definitely had that green tea shade. Ross and I both liked these as much as the corn version. Rydia, who was trying this form for the first time, gave it good reviews.

Score: 4/5 - Very similar to the earlier Cake with Corn, equally enjoyable.

Haioreum Korean Pancake with Corn

I bought these at H Mart, frozen. I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into, and I was pleasantly surprised. I followed the instructions on the box, and pan fried these with a little oil. As I was cooking them, I thought, "Mmm... smells like donuts..." This turned out to be the general gist. These cakes were basically a chewy sweet fried dough, with a mild sweet cinnamon filling. The dough was dense but springy, and the frying made a nice crust on the outside. The filling had some bits of softened peanut and perhaps red bean, not a lot. While I don't think those bits really added anything, I don't think they took anything away. As far as the corn part goes, I guess the dough could have been slightly corn flavored? It was certainly yellow in color! I did really like these, I would definitely buy these again, and now I am interested in looking for more of these Korean pancake style items. Definitely a pleasant surprise!

Score: 4/5 - Sweet fried dough with a cinnamon filling... Great chewy texture, mild pleasing flavor. Would buy again.

Haioreum Mushroom Dumpling

Another selection from H Mart! These are Haioreum brand dumplings, which seems to be a common Korean brand. As you can see in the second picture, I steamed these dumplings. These dumplings are larger than most of the dumplings I buy, except maybe the circular ones. The skin is thicker than on some of the other dumplings I've bought, but seems in proportion to the size! The thick skin does help when steaming, since it's less likely to rip when you are pulling these out of the steamer. (Side note, I should really start buying the pre-punched steamer liner papers instead of cutting little squares for each dumpling, which is tedious. Gotta find those...) As the dumplings cool post-steaming, the skin toughens up but I actually like the bit of added chewiness. As for the filling, it's OK. It's not very mushroom-y for a mushroom dumpling. There are noodle bits, small pieces of scallion or leek, and some vegetable protein crumbles as well. The texture was OK, the dumplings weren't over-filled so it didn't try to escape too much. I wasn't that impressed with the filling flavor or texture, really. I did like the skins, so I would try these dumplings in another flavor for sure.

Again, look at how huge these things are!

Score: 3.5/5 - Awesomely huge with good dumpling wrapper, wish the flavor were more exciting.

Haioreum Red Bean Bun with Mellow Pumpkin

I am so torn on these buns. These are basically just red bean buns with a less lumpy filling. The pumpkin flavor is quite mellow, to the point I thought of these as just mild red bean buns. I was less impressed the first time than the second, but really, these are just mild buns. The dough is a little bit tinted, but it's basically plain dough. These are fine but not interesting.

Score: 3/5 - Fine, but not interesting.