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Have you tried Korean Spicy Rice Cake called Tteokbokki? It’s all in one power street food I call it! The extra spicy and sweet sauce is a perfect base for the crunchy cabbage, savory fish cake and chewy rice cakes! This one pot meal comes together so quick and easy you will be quite surprised! And the best part is, it’s totally sharable!! I will show you how to create this delicious Korean street food in a jiffy! Let’s fire up some taste buds!

what is tteokbokki?

Tteokbokki is typically made with rice cake that resembles a long tube/cylinder. They can be bought freshly made room temperature or premade ones that’s in the fridge section. It’s one of the most popular Korean street food of all times and can be eaten as a snack or as a small meal. The sauce is thick, red colored and made with spicy gochujang and gochugaru with hint of sweetness.

how do you make tteokbokki?

This is the process I usually go through:

make the broth base: typically by boiling dried anchovies and dried kelp with water. These two ingredients create a really flavorful broth when boiled together. However, be sure not to overboil, to prevent the broth becoming bitter. You can also use this base for other Korean soups and stews. It can also be frozen or saved in fridge for later use.
add seasoning. This is where you can modify the flavor of the broth to your liking. You can use more or less gochugaru or gochujang to make your tteobokki more or less spicy. I like to add some acidity to my ttoakbokki, so for this version, I added the plum syrup. If you don’t want to add sugar, you can use alternate sweetner. And same goes for soysauce, you can substitute soy sauce with tamari.
add rice cake, fish cake and veggies. For this version I did not use the fresh rice cake. This is a refrigerated version that comes in a vaccumed sealed bag. These are typically hard to touch and soaking in water will help to hydrate some before cooking. If you don’t end up using the whole bag, I suggest freezing the left over rice cake to keep it’s freshness. Fish cake and veggies are optionsl but it really helps in overall texture of tteokbokki.
garnish. You can add chopped scallions, sesame oil or sesame seeds.

can i use different types of fish cake?

The rectangular fish cake sheets are typically used for Tteokbokki. They are available in the freezer section and comes in a pack of about 20 sheets. They last forever in the freezer! You can also use different types of fish cakes. Some are round shaped, colorful and mixed with veggies etc. I like to swoosh my frozen fish cakes in boiling hot water to get rid of excess ice and freezer flavor. This is a trick many Koreans use. I also heard that it can get rid of the oily taste/flavor from the fish cake.

are there variations to korean tteokbokki?

Yes, there are variations to tteokbokki. You can also find the non-spicy version called Gungjung tteobokki. I have also heard of Jjajang tteokbokki, Cheese and Rose tteokbokki. I plan to make some in the future, so be sure to check back!

are there other tteokbokki recipes in this blog?

Yes there are few more variations of Tteokbokki on my site. There’s a non spicy version as well as spicy versions, so be sure to check them out! See list below:

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tteokbokki cooked and served on a hot pan with spoon

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