Easy Korean Stir-fried Rice Cakes (Ganjang Tteokbeoki) – Asian Recipes At Home (2024)

FAQs

What is tteokbokki sauce made of? ›

Make the sauce: Combine the gochujang, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, hot water, and ramen seasoning in a bowl. Mix well, then set aside.

“Otherwise the rice cakes are dried very hard and you have to cook them a long time to make them smooth,” she said. In addition, soaking removes any excess starch on the surface of the cakes, which Maangchi likes to do so that it doesn't thicken her dish too much.

Unlike the Chinese version that is sliced and flat, garaetteok is a long and cylindrically-shaped tteok, or rice cake, and has a significantly chewier bite than its Chinese counterpart. The first references to tteok appeared in several books about wars between China and Korea that took place between 480 and 222BC.

Though all rice cakes taste like pounded rice (even the ones made with brown rice vary little in their taste), the specific shape dramatically affects the texture. Thin slices are significantly less chewy than large, cylindrical rice cakes that are genuinely toothsome in the degree of their chewiness.

Tteok means rice cake and bokki stir-fried food. Combining these two words forms the term tteokbokki, or “stir-fried rice cake.” Ask Koreans what food makes them most nostalgic about their childhood and tteokbokki is the first thing they'll say.

In conclusion, tteokbokki can indeed be part of a healthy eating plan with mindful choices and portion control. By selecting fresh ingredients, preparing a flavorful homemade sauce, and being conscious of portion sizes, you can enjoy tteokbokki without compromising your dietary goals.

Rice cakes are healthier when they're made of brown rice. Rice grain is a good source of carbohydrates and proteins. Whole brown rice has more nutrients like protein, lipids, minerals, and vitamins than refined white rice, because they're stripped away during the refining process.

Korean rice cake or tteok, is made from steamed flour. The flour can come from any type of grain, including glutinous rice. Unlike mochi, which can't be made with regular rice, tteok can be created with non-glutinous rice.

Often times, tteok is made by pounding a rice flour dough to give the rice cakes its characteristic chewy texture. Although the shape of the rice cakes you see here looks a lot like garaetteok (cylindrical rice cakes), it is not derived from the traditional method of making tteok.

Stir gently with a wooden spoon when it starts to boil. Let it simmer and keep stirring until the rice cake turns soft and the tteokbokki sauce thickens and looks shiny, which should take about 10 to 15 minutes. If the rice cake is not soft enough, add more water and continue stirring until it softens.

Do Korean rice cakes need to be refrigerated? ›

A: Avoid direct sunlight and store in a cool place. You do not need to keep it in the refrigerator. However, after opening the inner package (individual wrapping paper), it should be stored in the refrigerator.

If you notice a sudden change in color or visible mold growth, or if the cakes have a strong, unpleasant odor, they have likely gone bad. Another sign of declining quality, while not necessarily a sign of expiration, is tteok that is hard or crumbly rather than moist and springy.

The scent of alcohol in such products come from culinary spirit. Trace amounts of culinary spirit were used to ensure that the rice cakes will be kept safe from contamination during the transit. However, culinary spirit is removed over the course of the cooking process, so it is safe for consumption.

The common industrial practice in Korea is to use ethanol as a microbial preservative by spraying or briefly soaking rice cake before packaging [1].

The Tteokbokki tteok (rice cake) itself is pretty bland since it's just rice. The texture is quite chewy and soft. The tteokbokki sauce is what basically makes the taste with a thick sauce that's a mix of spicy, sweet, salty and garlicky flavors with a great umami taste in the background.

' tteok ' is the Korean word for rice cake and 'bokki' is the Korean word for something fried.