Korean Rice Cake Soup ~ Tteokguk 떡국

January 2017. Happy Chinese New Year~ 새해 복 많이 받으세요~ Tteokguk is traditionally eaten on Korean Lunar New Year which symbolize turning 1 year older, also bring lucks and longevity. Korean Lunar New Year falls on the same day as our Chinese New Year. Therefore I will make Tteokguk for husband on Chinese New Year Day 1 morning if we did not go back to Korea for Seollal (Korean New Year). This year we spend our CNY in my hometown. So I brought some freshly made garae-tteok from local Korean Mart a day before we drove back to hometown to make tteokguk for him and my family. If you couldn't get the freshly made garae-tteok, some supermarket (e.g. Jusco Aeon) which is selling Korean products is selling packaging tteok too (where the rice cake is thinly sliced). Tteokguk generally consists of the broth/soup (guk) with thinly sliced rice cakes (tteok), garnished with thin julienne cooked eggs, shredded marinated meat and crushed roasted seaweed (gim).

Ingredients (4 Servings)

4 handful Slice Rice Cake 

350 grams Beef (brisket or chuck)

1 Yellow Onion 

6 gloves Garlic 

2-3 stalks Spring Onion 

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

1-2 tablespoon soy sauce

1-2 pinch of salt

1-2 pinch of pepper

How to Cook

Step 1

In a large pot, add in beef, yellow onion, spring onions, garlic gloves and 10 cups of water and bring it to boil. Once it is boiling, reduce the heat to medium low and let it simmer for 1 hour with cover. 

Step 2

Since the garae-tteok that I bought is freshly made and doesn't required to be keep in fridge, I just need to thinly sliced it and set aside for cooking later. Store-bought rice cake in package normally required to keep in fridge, therefore it is recommended to soak the rice cake in room water for about 10-20 minutes until soften before use. 

Step 3
Simmer until the beef is tender (about an hour is enough). Off the fire, remove all ingredients from broth. Discard the veggie except the beef chunk. Seasoned the broth with 1-2 tablespoon of soy sauce, a pinch of salt and pepper. 

Step 4

After the boiled beef chunk cold down, shred the beef chunk into strips by using hands or thinly julienne it with knife. Then, seasoned it with 1/2 teaspoon garlic, 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil, and a pinch of salt and pepper, mix well and set aside for garnish later.

Step 5

Make Ji-dan (egg garnish) Separate the egg white and egg yolk in two separate bowls. Beat both white and yolk gently. Heat up a non-stick pan, coat the pan with a little cooking oil, cook the white and yolk separately on medium low heat like how you cook egg crepe / pancake. After cook, roll the egg layer and thinly slice it into strip and set aside.

Step 6

Roast a sheet of unseasoned gim (seaweed sheet) on a pan or direct above the stove fire, crush it or use a cut it into bits using scissor. Or you may use the seasoned seaweed sheet too for the garnish. I am using roasted seaweed seasoned with sesame oil made by myself here.

Step 7
After prepare all the garnish, it's time to cook the tteok with broth. Bring the broth to boil, then add in the tteok and let it cook for 5 minutes, until it turn soft then it is ready to serve. You may add in mandu (Korean dumplings) and boil together with the tteok, and it will turn into another delicious Korean delicacy - Tteok Mandu-guk ~ which is also one of  his favourite dish. Just serve the tteok and guk in bowl, garnish it the seasoned beef strips, ji-dan and gim, Tteokguk is ready to serve!