Recipe-3. Tteokbokki

[ Tteokbokki ]
(Spicy Stir-fried Rice Cakes)

Tteokbokki is a highly popular Korean street food and a delicious comfort food you can easily make at home. The spicy, slightly sweet, and chewy rice cakes are simply addictive!

What is tteokbokki?

Tteokbokki (also spelled ddukbokki, ddeokbokki, dukbokki or topokki), 떡볶이, is a beloved Korean rice cake dish with many variations and a rich history. Literally translated as “stir-fried rice cake”, this dish is made with garaettok, a cylinder-shaped white rice cake. This spicy rice cake dish is enormously popular as a street food and also often enjoyed at home.

Unlike Gubgjung ttokbokki, which has been around for hundreds of years, the red spicy tteokbokki has a relatively short history. It was developed in 1953, the year the Korean War ended, by a woman named Ma Bok-rim in the Sindang-dong neighborhood in Seoul. The chewy rice cake in a spicy gochujang sauce instantly became popular as an affordable comfort snack.

The rice cake

Garaetteok (가래떡), a cylinder-shaped white rice cake, is used in various ways in Korea. The thick type is sliced into thin oval shapes for making ttokguk (rice cake soup). The thinner, shorter type is used for tteokbokki, hence the name tteokbokki tteok (떡볶이떡).

You can use either one for this recipe, but the thick type needs to be cut thinner and shorter for this recipe. Depending on where you live, you can find these rice cakes freshly made, refrigerated, or frozen at Korean markets. They come in various shapes and sizes.

And also, there are two kinds of rice cake made from rice flour and rice cake made from wheat flour. In the texture, flour rice cake is a little more delicious.
You can choose to suit your favorite taste.

The spicy tteokbokki sauce is usually made with a combination of gochujang (고추장, Korean red chili pepper paste) and gochugaru (고추가루, Korean red chili pepper flakes). Some people simply make this rice cake sauce with gochujang, and some only use gochugaru.

If you don’t like it too spicy, simply use gochujang without any red chili pepper flakes. To make it really spicy, adding more red chili pepper flakes is the way to increase the heat level without altering the saltiness and sweetness.

In this updated recipe, I provided another ratio of gochujang and gochugaru for you to try. It gives a cleaner-tasting spicy kick.

In any case, be aware that the level of spiciness varies widely among different brands of gochujang and gochugaru.

Other additions

Tteokbokki has continued to evolve over time. Today, people add all sorts of other ingredients such as fishcake, ramen, dumplings, egg, hot dogs, seafood and even cheese.

Here, I kept the recipe simple with eomuk (fish cake), green cabbage, and scallions, which is how we used to eat tteokbokki growing up.

Anchovy broth is typically used for a depth of flavor, but you can simply use water if you like. Gochujang and soy sauce give the dish lots of umami flavors.

 

How to make vegan tteokbokki

Instead of anchovy broth, use water or vegetable broth for vegetarian or vegan tteokbokki. Simply omit the fish cake, or substitute it with fried tofu pockets called yubu.

 

Tteokbokki - Spicy stir-fried rice cakes

Appetizer

Prep Time: 10 minutes / Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 pound tteokbokki tteok 떡볶이 떡 
 You can choose and use it to suit your taste-Refer to below
  • Rice Cake
    • Tteokbokki Rice Cake 1kg
    • Tteokbokki Rice Cake IQF 1kg
    • Tteokbokki Rice Cake IQF(Thick) 1kg
    • Tteokbokki Rice Cake (Noodle) 1kg
    • Tteokbokki Rice Cake (Bite) 1kg
    • Tteokbokki Rice Cake (Hole) 1kg
  • Flavour Rice Cake
    • Cheese Tteokbokki Rice Cake 500g
    • Cheese Tteokbokki Rice Cake 1kg
    • Pumpkin Tteokbokki Rice Cake 500g
    • Sweet Potato Tteokbokki Rice Cake 500
  • 1 sheet eomuk 어묵 (fish cake)

 You can choose and use it to suit your taste-Refer to below

    • Fish cake
      • Boram Frozen Fishcake 1kg*10
      • Boram Fishcake Mixed 1kg*10
      • CJ FROZEN FISHCAKE (Square) 1kg*10
  • 4 ounces green cabbage (yangbaechu, 양배추)
  • 1 - 2 scallions
  • 3 cups anchovy broth or water (use 4 cups for more sauce)
  • 3 tablespoons Korean redpepper paste (gochujang, 고추장)

     You can choose and use it to suit your taste-Refer to below

      • Redpepper paste
        • CJ Redpepper Paste 14kg
        • CJ Red Pepper Paste 3kg*4
    • 1 - 3 teaspoons Korean redpepper powder (gochugaru, 고추가루) - preferably finely ground

    You can choose and use it to suit your taste-Refer to below

      • CJ Red pepper Powder 454g*30 (Coarse)
      • CJ Red pepper Powder 454g*30 (Fine)
      • Red Pepper Powder 1kg*10 (Fine)
      • Red Pepper Powder 1kg*10 (Super fine)
    • 1 tablespoon soy sauce

     You can choose and use it to suit your taste-Refer to below

      • Soy sauce
        • Soy Sauce Jin 13L
    • 2 tablespoons sugar (or use 1 tablespoon if you like it less sweet)
    • 1 tablespoon corn syrup (or 1 more tablespoon sugar)

    You can choose and use it to suit your taste-Refer to below

      • Corn syrup
        • CJ Corn Syrup 5kg*3
        • Lotte Starch Syrup 10kg*2
        • CJ BEKSUL COOKING SYRUP (OLIGOSACCHARIDE) 1.2kg*9
    • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
        • Frozen Whole Garlic 1kg*10

      Instructions

      1. Make anchovy broth. Soak the rice cakes for about 20 minutes if hardened or refrigerated. Cut the cabbage and scallions into about 2-inch long pieces.

      2. Add the anchovy broth (or water) to a large pan. Stir in the sauce ingredients. Bring it to a boil over medium high heat, stirring to dissolve the redpepper paste (gochujang).

      3. Add the rice cakes. Boil until the rice cakes become very soft and the sauce is thickened, about 8 - 10 minutes. Stir frequently so the rice cakes don't stick to the bottom of the pan.

      4. Add the vegetables and fish cakes. Continue to boil, stirring constantly, for an additional 4 - 6 minutes. Depending on rice cakes, you may need more time to reach a desired level of softness. Add more broth or water as necessary. Taste the sauce, and adjust the seasoning if needed. Serve immediately.

      Notes

      1. Another combination I like that you should try: 2 tablespoons gochujang, 2 tablespoons finely ground gochugaru, and 1-1/2 tablespoons soy sauce. Everything else stays the same. 
      2. Finely ground gochugaru works better with this recipe. You can grind your normal gochugaru in a spice grinder to make it finer. 
      3. Tteokbokki doesn't reheat well in the microwave. Reheat any leftovers, along with a little bit of broth or water, in a small pan over low heat.

       

      You can choose and use it to suit your taste-Refer to below
      Click the link to see the product

      Products-Rice Cake

      • Rice Cake (Wheat base)

      • Flavor Rice Cake

      Products-Fish cake

      Products-Red pepper paste

      Products-Redpepper Powder

        Products-Soy Sauce

        Products-Corn syrup

        Products-Garlic