Tteokbokki

Classic Seoul-Style Tteokbokki (Gungjung-tteokbokki Street Version)

Cylindrical Korean rice cakes simmered in a glossy, sweet-spicy red sauce with fish cake and scallions — the quintessential Seoul street snack, here made at home.

Prep

10 min

Cook

20 min

Total

30 min

Serves

4

Difficulty

Easy

Recipe ingredients

• •500 g (1 lb 2 oz) tteok (Korean rice cakes), garaetteok, the cylindrical kind; soak 30 min if frozen or hard
• •450 ml (2 cups) water or anchovy-kelp stock, anchovy-kelp stock gives traditional depth
• •4 g (4 sheets (about 4 g)) dried kelp (dashima), optional, simmered in the stock
• •60 g (¼ cup) gochujang (Korean red chili paste), not null
• •20 g (2 Tbsp) gochugaru (Korean red chili flakes), adjust to heat preference
• •30 g (2 Tbsp) sugar, white granulated
• •15 ml (1 Tbsp) soy sauce
• •5 ml (1 tsp) toasted sesame oil, off heat only
• •2 g (½ tsp) minced garlic
• •150 g (5 oz) eomuk fish cake (Korean fish cake), eomuk, cut into bite-size triangles; rinse to remove surface oil
• •2 each (2 large) eggs, boiled 7 min from cold, peeled; optional traditional add-in
• •30 g (2 scallions) scallion, white parts with stems, sliced 5 cm

Steps

1. 1 If using frozen or hard dried tteok, soak in cool water for at least 30 minutes until pliable, then drain. Skip if already soft/fresh.
2. 2 Make the stock: combine 450 ml water with 4 g dried kelp in a wide pan. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes; remove the kelp just before it reaches a rolling boil to avoid bitterness. (Substitute plain water if kelp is unavailable; flavor will be simpler.)
3. 3 In a small bowl, whisk the gochujang, gochugaru, sugar, soy sauce, and minced garlic with about 60 ml of the warm stock until smooth — this prevents clumps in the finished sauce.
4. 4 Pour the sauce mixture into the pan with the remaining stock and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring.
5. 5 Add the drained rice cakes, stir gently so they don't stick, and simmer 7–9 minutes until the rice cakes are very tender when bitten — they should yield with no chalky core.
6. 6 Add the rinsed fish cake triangles and the peeled boiled eggs; simmer 2–3 minutes more to heat through. The sauce should be glossy and just thick enough to coat the back of a spoon; if too thin, simmer 1–2 minutes longer, or if too thick, splash in a little water.
7. 7 Stir in the sesame oil off the heat, scatter the scallions over the top, and serve immediately in shallow bowls. Eat with wooden or long chopsticks — the rice cakes splash, so a napkin helps.