Dashik (다식) is a type of Korean confectionary consumed with a cup of tea. They are kind of like the Korean version of a cookie. Dashik is made by forming a dough and pressing the dough in a dashiki board (다식판). A dashik board is a board with several holes. The holes are the mold for where the dough will go in. The holes are often decorated in the shape of flowers and other various designs. There are different kinds of dashik, all with different tastes. Let’s see what kinds there are…

There is the Nokcha dashik (녹차다식), which is dashik made from green tea powder. To make Nokcha dashik, mix one cup of glutinous rice and two cups of green tea powder. Then add as much sugar as you’d like to the mixture. The more sugar the sweeter. If you’d like, you can also add some honey. After you knead all the materials into a dough-like form, press the dough into the dashik board. Make sure to grease the holes of the board before you place the dough inside the dashik board.

Heukimja dashik (흑임자다식) is dashik with black sesame seed powder as the main ingredient. To make this form of dashik, take one cup of black sesame powder and about one cup of honey. Add some sugar if you want it sweeter. Since black sesame seed can taste quite bitter, it’d be a good idea to add a little extra sugar. After you’ve kneaded the dough, squeeze the dough into the dashik board to get that nice shape. Then flip the board over and tap the dashik out of the board.

Songhwa dashik (송화다식) is made from pine pollen powder. Mix one cup of pine pollen powder and three cups of honey. Then oil up the dashik board and place some plastic wrap over the holes of the dashik board. After you’ve pressed the kneaded dough into the board, take the plastic wrap out and the dashik will fall out as well. Since pine pollen powder can be very fine, some of it can stick to the board, which is why the extra precaution with the plastic wrap was used.

Kong dashik (콩다식) is dashik made from bean powder. Mix one cup of bean powder with two cups of honey. If you like your dashik really sweet, add additional sugar. After you knead the dough, place the dough in a pan of oil. The dough will be slightly fried, but not too much. Set the dough in the oil for no longer than a minute. The grains of the bean powder are very fine and may prevent it from sticking together. That’s why it was fried. Lastly, place the dough in the dashik board.

Nongmal dashik (녹말다식) is dashik made from plain starch powder. Mix one cup of glutinous rice, three cups of starch powder and one cup of honey. Mix everything into a dough-like form. Then press the dough into the oiled dashik board. When you take out the dashik, you can fry them for less than ten seconds in a pan of oil. This will give the dashik a crunchy and crispy texture. The frying part is optional because some people like their dashik soft and chewy.