Tteokbokki ( pronounced dok-bok-kee) can be seen in almost every k-drama! It is simple, convenient and for me with one bite it brings me back to all the memories that leave a lasting sense of comfort. One caveat is that here in the U.S, tteokbokki is not as accessible as bread……..yet. With a couple of items from your local grocery store, I will have you joining me on a rice cake binge.

For those who do not know what tteokbokki is this recipe is a good starter for you. What is tteokbokki ? To put it simply it is a rice cake. On a more complex note, its a chewy, yet pillowy rice made vehicle at which you can take almost anywhere with sauces, dips and stews. Through spicy tundras or sweet valleys, this staple item is a nationwide food hallyu star for good reason.

There is no one way to have tteokbokki, but for me there are two top contenders. One is with a mild sweet, umami soy based sauce that is pretty damn close to the more traditional way tteok was served back in the Joseon era “royal court tteokbokki”. My other preferred method is in a spicy gochujang based sauce served with fishcake and boiled egg, when I am feeling stressed or upset I make this and pop on a k-drama that suits my mood.

Now, the best tteokbokki is FRESH tteokbokki, super soft, and delicate. Sometimes store-bought can deter you if you are new to the game. The tteokbokki can become firm and hardened. It needs to be stored in a fridge, and then pre soaked in water about 5-10 minutes before cooking. This rendition bipasses all of this. Your mind is about to be blown… we are going to be using Rice Paper Wrappers! Trust me, you have either had it in your pantry because you tried it for that one recipe in hopes of being more adventurous or you go through them like crazy! If you fall in neither category, now is a great time to pick them up. They can be found in most grocery stores or online.

A few other key ingredients you will need, gochujang paste and dashi broth ( on the dashi broth spectrum you can have the basics just kelp to more complex flavorings that include kelp and various dried fish or mushrooms even). You will be able to find gochujang paste in Hmart or a local asian grocery store, the dashi broth you can substitute with whatever broth you have on hand but I implore you to try out the dashi one day. My current favorite dashi stock .

Ingredients

1 serving

1 packet of Rice paper

1-2 tbsp of gochujang paste

1/2 tbsp of sugar

1 sachet of dashi powder or 1tbsp of dashi stock

1 egg

1/2-1 cup of water depending on how viscous you’d like the sauce to be

1/2 of chopped scallion ( for garnish, highly recommend)

How To Do It

1. In a small saucepan, fill with water and boil an egg, for the perfect hard boiled egg, 7-8 minutes. Set eggs aside in some ice water while you make the tteokbokki

2. Set aside a wide dish with lukewarm water, take out two rice wrappers at a time and dip the wrapper into water to make sure it is fully submerged.

3. Place dampened rice wrappers on a cutting board. Starting from one end roll the rice wrapper like a log, roll until there is no wrapper left.

4. Repeat steps 2-3 until you have 5-6 “logs”, you can either cut the “logs” in half once for shorter pieces, or in third’s. ( I left them whole because laziness overcame me that day)

5. In a frying pan, mix water, gochujang paste, dashi powder, sugar together and stir. Toss in your tteokbokki pieces and have sauce come to a slight boil. ( With fresh tteokbkki, the sauce will thicken and become velvety and delicious) With this version, you can leave as is or add a little slurry of cornstarch to thicken.

6. Last step is to remove eggshell and pop them in with the sauce and tteokbokki.

7. Serve in a bowl, with sprinkle of scallion! Enjoy!

Tips:

• A corn starch slurry is a mixture of equal parts cornstarch and liquid ( in this case it will be water since the sauce has dashi stock in it already). Mix the cornstarch with cool water. 1tbsp of water to 1tbsp of cornstarch should do the trick for this amount of sauce! If looking for an alternative, tapioca powder can be used instead.

• As an extra step I like to add a drizzle of sesame oil and a tiny sprinkle of sesame seeds, just adds another level of flavor and richness that I love. Also enjoy with your favorite drama playing in the background, our our podcast!