Songpyeon is the Korean rice cake traditionally shaped like a half-moon for Chuseok.
Songpyeon is made from rice-flour dough that is filled, folded, and steamed. Common fillings include sesame seeds, beans, chestnuts, and sweetened mung beans, although recipes differ across regions and families.
The cakes are traditionally steamed on a bed of pine needles. This helps separate the pieces and gives them a characteristic pine fragrance, which explains the “song” element of the name, referring to pine trees.
Songpyeon is closely linked with Chuseok, but it is not identical to every Korean rice cake. Injeolmi is coated with powdered beans, hotteok is a filled griddle cake, and tteokbokki is a spicy rice-cake dish rather than a festival confection.