Tteokbokki Recipe: Spicy Korean Rice Cakes Like Street Food

Full transcript

Annyeong, yeoreobun! Yul from KVIBE IDOLS. Today, the number one street food in Korea. Tteokbokki! Chewy rice cakes in a sweet and spicy red sauce.

Fun fact. Tteokbokki was not always spicy. In the Joseon dynasty, the royal court ate a version stir fried with soy sauce, beef, and vegetables. The red, spicy version became famous in the 1950s, in a Seoul neighborhood called Sindang-dong. Today there is a whole tteokbokki street there.

Let's make it. You need about three hundred grams of cylinder rice cakes. If they're hard, soak them in warm water for ten minutes.

In a wide pan, pour two cups of water and add a few sheets of fish cake, called eomuk. Now the sauce: two spoons of gochujang, one spoon of gochugaru, one spoon of soy sauce, two spoons of sugar, and some minced garlic. Stir it in and bring it to a boil.

Add the rice cakes and cook on medium heat for about ten minutes, stirring often, until the sauce becomes thick and glossy. Add green onions and, if you want to be extra, a boiled egg and some cheese on top.

Yul's tip! In Korea, the best way to eat tteokbokki is with friends after school, dipping fried snacks, called twigim, into the sauce. And if it's too spicy? Drink milk, not water. Trust me. Masitge deuseyo!