Tteokguk (Rice cake soup)

Published : 2013-02-07 20:57
Updated : 2013-02-07 20:57

Tteokguk (Rice cake soup) (Korean Bapsang)

Tteokguk is a soup made with sliced rice cakes, usually in beef broth. It’s a traditional New Year’s dish made with garaetteok, which is unsweetened and shaped like a long cylinder. For the soup, garaetteok is sliced into thin oval shapes. The white oval shape symbolizes a bright and prosperous new year. Growing up, I always loved to eat long steaming garaetteok my mother would bring home from a rice cake mill in preparation for the New Year’s feast. She would wait a couple of days for the garaetteok to turn hard before slicing them into thin oval slices. These days, pre-sliced garaetteok is widely available all year around, making the soup preparation much easier.

4 servings

Ingredients:

Beef Broth:

● 230 grams beef brisket

● 1/2 medium onion

● 5-6 cloves of garlic

● 3 scallions ― white parts

● 1-2 tablespoons soup soy sauce

● Salt and pepper to taste

Garnish:

● Beef removed from the broth

● 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

● 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil salt and pepper

● 1 egg

● 1 scallion

● 1/2 sheet gim (nori)

● 4 ― 5 cups sliced garaetteok (rice cake)

(Soak in cold water for 10 to 20 minutes if hardened.)

In a large pot, bring the meat, onion, scallions and garlic to a boil in 14 cups of water. Reduce the heat to medium low, and skim off the scum. Simmer, covered, until the meat is tender enough for shredding, 1 to 1-1/2 hours. Remove the meat and cool. Discard the vegetables. Stir in soup soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste.

To make egg garnish (jidan), separate the egg. Lightly beat the white by gently cutting it a spoon. (Try not to create foam.) Stir the yoke with a spoon until smooth. Heat a lightly oiled nonstick skillet over medium low heat. Pour each egg part into a thin layer, tilting the skillet and/or spreading with a spoon. Cook each side briefly until no visible liquid remains. (Do not brown the egg.) Slice into short thin strips.

Shred the cooled beef into thin bite size strips and combine well with garlic, sesame oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Slice the scallion diagonally into thin strips. Roast the gim on a hot skillet. Cut into thin strips with kitchen shears or simply crush it with hands.

Return the broth to a boil. Add the rice cake slices and boil over medium high heat until soft, usually about 5 - 8 minutes. Ladle the steaming soup into individual bowls and garnish with the shredded beef, egg, scallion and gim.

Tips:

Although egg jidan is a classic garnish for tteokguk, a common alternative is to drizzle a lightly beaten egg over the boiling soup right before turning the heat off.

If you want to add some mandu, you can drop them in, along with the rice cake slices, stirring gently so they don’t stick to the bottom of the pot. Boil until all of them float, and continue to cook for another minute or two. You can also cook mandu in boiling water separately, and then add to the soup when the rice cake is softened. (For the recipe for mandu, visit koreanbapsang.com)