Eat and Cook: Let's Try Delicious Tteokbokki

My first experience with Korean food is  tteokbokki ( Korean spicy rice cake ) when my Korean teacher—a native Korean—brought the food to our class. Once I tasted the food, i instantly like it. It’s very tasty though a bit spicy. Since then i tend to choose tteokbokki if  i come to eat at Korean restaurant.

Tteokbokki is one of popular Korean snack food made from rice cake, fish cake and sweet red chilli sauce. Today, tteokbokki is regarded as a street food because it is usually purchased from the street vendors.

Tteokbokki originally a part of Korean royal court cuisine in the Joseon dynasty. At that time, tteokbokki was brown and plain, that’s the original version of tteokbokki.  The influence of Japanese in Joeson dynasty is believed to have changed original tteokbokki. The introduction of ‘gochujang’ – Korean spicy pasta made of chilli peppers-- has changed tteokbokki into red and spicy.

The main transition of tteokbokki from plain to spicy occurred after the independence of Korea in 1950s.  Until today, most of tteokbokki sold in street vendor or small snack bars is red and spicy. So the tteokbokki has a long story in Korean food history.

The spelling of tteokbokki also changes a little become “topokki”. It was officially given by the government institution in order to be friendlier for the global market. The popularity of tteokbokki make it a big potential business. It grows from street food to a food franchise that goes internationally. Seeing that potentional business, Korean government established the so-called tteokbokki laboratory in 2009 to provide technical support for the enhancement of the dish.

Before that government project, most tteokbokki was made of flour. But after that, the government encourage Korean people to use rice to make tteokbokki. Rice is regarded as healthier than flour.

Make the Tteokbokki Yourself

Actually tteokbokki is a simple dish that we can make it ourselves at home. Moreover, there are many local supermarket or Korean supermarket in Indonesia, especially in Jakarta, that sells food ingredients and spices to make Korean cuisine. We can also buy frozen-ready for use rice cakes (tteok) at the supermarket so we just cook and mix it with other ingredients and spices.

tteok

 gochujang 

gochugaru

To make tteokbokki we need tteok, odeng (fish cake), gochujang (hot pepper paste), gochugaru (red pepper flake), vegetables—if you like—( such as cabbage or carrots), green onion, garlic, sesame oil, soy sauce, water (or broth),  and sugar (you may use corn syrup or honey, optional)

Firstly, boiled frozen tteok  until it become chewy.  To make the the sauce, crushed the garlic and then mix it with gochujang, gochugaru, sesame oil, soy sauce, honey and water. In pan, heat the sauce for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, and then add tteok, odeng, and vegetables, cook them well-done.

Serve tteokbokki, sprinkle with sesame seeds and slice green onion. Enjoy the meal ... :)

 My tteokbokki, from a Korean resto in Depok

Note:

Thank to my friend Anisa El Jannah who gives me a recipe and tell me how to make home-made tteobokki. 

**( all about tteobokki from various sources)