Spicy Korean Rice Cakes (Tteokbokki)
Updated March 17, 2020
- Total Time
- 20 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 8ounces fresh or thawed frozen tteok (see note)
- 4ounces beefsteak, such as chuck or sirloin, very thinly sliced
- ½teaspoon soy sauce
- 2teaspoons sesame oil
- 2cloves garlic, minced
- 1small onion, thinly sliced
- 2cups green cabbage, cut crosswise into large pieces (optional)
- 1 to 2tablespoons gochujang (Korean chile paste)
- 1 to 2teaspoons sugar
- 2scallions, cut into 1-inch batons
- Sesame seeds
Preparation
- Step 1
Soak tteok in cold water to cover while preparing the other ingredients, about 10 minutes. Drain on paper towels.
- Step 2
Combine beef with soy sauce, 1 teaspoon sesame oil and garlic.
- Step 3
Heat a wok or skillet over high heat until very hot. Add beef mixture and stir-fry just until lightly browned, 1 minute. Add onion, scallions, and cabbage, if using, and stir-fry until crisp-tender, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Step 4
Add gochujang and mix. Add about ⅓ cup water, remaining teaspoon sesame oil, sugar and tteok. Mix and let simmer until sauce is thick and tteok is soft, adding water a little at a time as needed. Adjust seasonings with sugar and gochujang.
- Step 5
Mix in scallions and serve hot, sprinkled with sesame seeds.
- Tteok (Korean rice cakes, also spelled dduk or toppoki) are available in Asian markets. For this dish, the traditional shape is long cylinders; cut them crosswise in half before cooking. If using dried tteok, cook according to package directions and do not soak.
Private Notes
Comments
I hate it when people do this, so, sorry, but I combined this recipe with another (Maangchi from youtube), and I suggest others do the same. Maangchi's has more sauce so lots of flavour. I had never made rice cakes before and I thought they were great. I love meat and used beef as called for in this recipe but next time I won't - it didn't add anything and I think it would be better to have some meat on the side. I used more cabbage and scallions. I will make this again and again.
In Korea we typically don’t use meat for this dish but use odeng (fish cakes, usually flat types cut into pieces) instead. We also like to put on different kinds of add-ons, like noodles (instant ramen noodles, udon noodles, or glass noodles), Korean shiso, hard-boiled eggs, and/or cheese (low-moisture mozzarella, cheddar, or American cheese works well). Great accompanied with fried gyoza or gimbop (Korean style roll sushi).
Delicious! I added some ground pork that I needed to use up. It was a bit sweet and lacking in depth, so I added some fish sauce for a nice, deep umami flavor and some Korean red pepper flakes to increase the heat without making it sweeter. Next time I would add anchovy broth instead of water, or perhaps some whole dried anchovies and I would use mirin instead of sugar.
But it turned out well!
Loved this! Super easy. Quadrupled the recipe for a few nights of leftovers. Added fish sauce as per another comment and it was a nice touch.
Trying to use up pantry ingredients so I swapped the beef for a can of tuna. Was not expecting much, but it actually slapped.
I subbed in shiitake mushrooms for the cabbage - delish!