Korean recipes:

Rice cake soup


Ingredients:
sliced rice cake
, beef brisket, garlic, fish sauce, green onion, eggs, laver (dried sea plant), sesame oil, black ground pepper.

rice-cake-slices

eggs-and-onion2

Directions:

  1. Boil 8 cups of water in a pot.
  2. Soak 3 cups of sliced rice cake in cold water.
  3. Chop 100 grams (about 1 cup-1.5 cup) of beef brisket into small pieces.
  4. Prepare 3 eggs in 2 small bowls:
    In the first bowl, put 2 egg yolk;
    In the second bowl, put 2 egg white and 1 egg;
    Add a pinch of salt to each bowl and mix well.

While you’re waiting for the water to boil, you can make your garnishes, starting with gyeran noreunja jidan (thin egg yolk strips):

  • Heat up a non-stick pan. Let it get really hot. Add a few drops of vegetable oil, and wipe off the excess hot oil with a paper towel.
  • Turn the heat off. Pour the egg yolk mixture from “bowl 1″ above into the pan and spread it thinly. You want to make a thin yellow paper out of the egg by tilting the pan.
  • When it’s cooked about 70%, turn it over and let it sit on the pan to cook the other side.
  • Slice it thinly and set it aside.

Now let’s make kimgaru (laver powder). This one is easy:

  • Roast a sheet of laver (kim) directly on the stove top. Both sides of the laver should be roasted so that it can be crushed easily.
  • Put the roasted laver into a plastic bag and crush it! Then set it aside.

Good work! Now let’s get back to the soup:

boiling

  1. When the water boils, put in the beef. Boil over low medium heat for 20-30 minutes.
  2. Open the lid and add 1 clove of minced garlic, 2 tbs of fish sauce.
    *tip: the water will boil off but you want to keep it at 6 cups. You can add more water as you need it.
  3. Drain the rice cake slices and put them into boiling beef soup. Close the lid.
  4. A few minutes later, open the lid to check if rice cake slices are floating on the surface. You can taste a sample now.
  5. Pour in the egg mix from “bowl 2″ above, a little at a time.
    *tip: Don’t stir it until the egg mixture is cooked a little in the broth
  6. Chop some green onion and add it to the pot.
  7. Turn off the heat and drizzle some sesame oil and grind a little black pepper.
  8. Transfer the rice cake soup to serving bowls. Garnish with the roasted laver powder and the thin egg yolk strips.

ddukguk

Serve it hot!

feast

59 Comments:

  1. Sylvia My profile page I'm a fan!
    joined September 10, 2008

    I made this recently with beef bone stock, (cooked the bones overnight)
    absolutely DELICIOUS!!
    I was sick with a bad cold and this was so good.
    Sylvia

    Posted February 13, 2010 at 9:18 pm | #
  2. Lisbon88 Boston, MA My profile page
    joined February 13, 2010

    Thank you for all of your wonderful recipes & enjoyable videos. My family has never been as fond of Korean food as I am, but they LOVE your food. This rice cake soup is now a weekly staple – with a few alterations because of allergies, but essentially the same. Happy New Year.

    Posted February 12, 2010 at 8:49 pm | #
  3. Deepblu505 Fayetteville NC My profile page
    joined February 9, 2010

    Love your recipes have tried many. Spent time in Korea and became very fond of the food there. I was wondering if I wanted to make duc mandu gook , would I just add mandu at the end of this recipe?

    Posted February 9, 2010 at 11:43 am | #
  4. borisito glendale, california My profile page
    joined January 20, 2010

    i love 떡국 but i have never seen the yolk with egg whites and fish sauce put in there

    Posted January 20, 2010 at 10:39 am | #
  5. Toto94

    Hello Maangchi, and Happy new year to everyone, 새해 복 많이 받으세요!
    I just read that the traditional Korean New Year’s day 설날 (seollal) is similar to the Chinese one. I guess it’s 14th February this year. I was wondering if you could post a recipe of yakgwa because I also read that it is a traditional meal for New Year’s day. :)
    Thanks a lot :D

    Posted January 2, 2010 at 12:21 pm | #
  6. David Kimchi

    Hi Maangchi,

    What a coincidence, I tried this soup for dinner at Wonju in Koreatown, NY. It was delicious, but I preferred the grilled meat over charcoal. I asked the waitress for extra sesame oil, but she looked back at me weird like I was crazy.

    Have you ever been to Wonju? It’s great, but VERY smoky. I had to wash my clothes immediately after.

    Dave

    Posted January 2, 2010 at 2:12 am | #
  7. Flower Venezuela My profile page I'm a fan!
    joined March 10, 2009

    By the way, happy new year everybody.

    Posted January 1, 2010 at 5:30 pm | #
  8. Flower Venezuela My profile page I'm a fan!
    joined March 10, 2009

    looks really delicious,
    a question can be used just chicken breasts instead of beef.?

    Posted January 1, 2010 at 5:29 pm | #
  9. sirdanilot

    Hi maangchi, I tried to make this today.

    The rice cake I had was frozen, long and thick. At the store they said you could slice it for soup, so I tried, but it was very hard to cut (the rice cake kept splitting and eventually I ended up with some rounds and a lot of tiny rice cake splinters). When I put it in the soup they became very soft but still slightly chewy, which I suppose is good?

    The soup itself was very tasty, if not slightly too thick. The egg garnish was very easy and awesome, I will remember this!

    Posted December 31, 2009 at 1:00 pm | #
    • Maangchi New York City My profile page
      joined August 6, 2008

      oh, I’m sorry to hear that! The store owner should have told you it will be very difficult to slice! Anyways it sounds like you did a good job! Happy New Year!

      Posted December 31, 2009 at 2:10 pm | #
  10. Stefanie

    Thanks for this wonderful duk guk recipe, which I just made and ate. It was really good. The broth I used was made with beef bones, which I simmered overnight in the crockpot. I don’t know if it is typical in Korean cuisine to slow simmer beef bones for broth, but it does make a great stock. Thanks for your lovely website—it makes cooking Korean food so easy:).

    Posted December 13, 2009 at 12:27 pm | #
  11. ivorygirl

    Maangchi, can you use the stock that you make for soondobu for dduk gook?

    Posted November 16, 2009 at 4:11 pm | #
  12. Angie

    This soup always reminds me of my childhood. Everytime if it was cold outside, my mom would cook this. When it rained, I knew for sure my mom would have this ready for me when I would come home from school.

    Posted October 12, 2009 at 7:24 pm | #
  13. Anonymous

    My mom isn’t around anymore so I am feverishly looking for recipies I loved as a child. Thank you for sharing this :) It was very very good!!!

    Posted October 1, 2009 at 8:38 pm | #
  14. Mars

    When I was younger, my mom made this for me all the time. I made some of this just recently and had my mom try it. She told me it was just like how she remembered it from when she was a child. I am sooo glad I found this website and your recipes! It brings back a lot of memories for me and my mom. Thank you soo much!
    I think this weekend I am going to try to make Jeonbokjuk for my mom and myself. I am very suprised, this is one korean dish I have not tried yet, but it looks delicious.

    Posted September 23, 2009 at 3:29 pm | #
    • Maangchi New York City My profile page
      joined August 6, 2008

      Yes, When I eat certain food, it sometimes reminds me of my family, too. I’m sure your mom will love the Jeonbokjuk.Good luck with making delicious jeonbokjuk! I would like to meet your mom someday because she said her recipe for rice cake soup is very similar to mine.

      Posted September 23, 2009 at 10:53 pm | #
  15. Deborah Toronto, ON My profile page I'm a fan!
    joined April 26, 2009

    hi maangchi,

    i never noticed… but were the rice cakes frozen or dried? i couldn’t tell from the video and you didn’t mention. my family is not korean and in the past, we’ve used the dried version… but i’m not sure if that is the same one you used? please help me clarify that.

    thank you!

    Posted August 31, 2009 at 5:53 pm | #
    • Maangchi New York City My profile page
      joined August 6, 2008

      You could use either frozen or dried. Soak them in cold water before putting in the boiling stock.

      Posted August 31, 2009 at 8:42 pm | #
  16. Candy

    Hi Maangchi! :)

    Did you ever post a recipe for the mustard leaf kimchi? lol I really do love that kimchi! :) I also love this soup. I had it when I was in Korea & it was very delicious. You are such a good cook! Can I just move in with you? LOL Just kidding! You’re awesome, keep up the great work!! :D I love your videos and your recipes!

    Posted August 18, 2009 at 2:53 pm | #
    • Maangchi New York City My profile page
      joined August 6, 2008

      Mustard green kimchi was requested by someone else long time ago, but I haven’t posted it yet. I will keep the recipe in mind. Thank you very much!

      Posted August 18, 2009 at 6:31 pm | #
  17. just now, i made this soup together with kimchi (don’t know if this combination is good though haha) and it looks delicious! but i still have to taste it yet…
    thanks for all the recipes! they are all good..! most of the time good cook don’t tell their “secrets”… and that’s a pity! :)

    Posted July 31, 2009 at 8:52 am | #
    • Maangchi New York City My profile page
      joined August 6, 2008

      I sometimes make kimchi soup and add sliced rice cake and enjoy it a lot. So what you made sounds like the soup that I make! kimchi ddukguk! (kimchi rice cake soup) Good job!!

      Posted July 31, 2009 at 8:09 pm | #
  18. FTTS

    Hi again Maangchi!!!
    Today I used the rest of my rice cakes and made the dukguk again (this time with the right ingredients), but the soup still came out not very flavorful. My soup is very liquidy, is it suppose to be more thick because of the rick cakes? I remember eating duk mandoo guk and the soup was kind of thick. So I think I may need to add less water than 8 cups? Do you have any other suggestions? Like adding salt while boiling the beef? Thank you again for your help, Maangchi!! I think I’ll try the pickled broccoli soon!! YAY!!!

    Posted June 7, 2009 at 9:33 pm | #
    • Maangchi New York City My profile page
      joined August 6, 2008

      I think well made ddukguk shouldn’t be thick. You will be able to enjoy both rice cake and clear soup! If it’s too bland for you, use more beef and cook longer before putting rice cake.

      Posted June 8, 2009 at 9:29 am | #
  19. FTTS

    Hi Maangchi!!
    I finally started cooking some of your recipes! I started with the dukguk and haha it turned out kind of funny looking, I have a low quality picture if you’d like to see it. So I didn’t have any 3 crab fish sauce :( so I used oyster sauce instead and instead of beef, I used chicken stock to make the stock and it came out tasting pretty bland. Next time I will buy the right ingredients at H-mart, anyways I just wanted to thank you for your hardowrk on the recipes and replying to us!! Goodluck with your cooking class as well, I kind of wish I lived in NY!

    Posted June 4, 2009 at 2:29 pm | #
    • Maangchi New York City My profile page
      joined August 6, 2008

      Thank you very much for letting me know about your cooking experiment! : ) I’m sure your next rice cake soup will be super delicious. oh, oyster sauce is not used in rice cake soup! 3 crabs, yes! haha,I’m a big fan of the fish sauce!

      Posted June 5, 2009 at 7:25 am | #
  20. Cuckoo

    Hello Maangchi,
    This is 가영 who met you in midtown on Sunday afternoon. After I watched your video, I have tried 떡국,경단,오뎅떡볶이. Anyway, we both in the same town, hope see you soon.

    Posted May 3, 2009 at 6:55 pm | #
  21. Ruth

    Hi Maangchi

    Thank you very much for your recipes and videos. I’m chinese but I love Korean food. I’m really into cooking Korean food now as you make them look so easy. So far, I’ve tried Kimchi, bibimbap and mandu.
    They tasted great and some Korean housewives here even commented that the kimchi tasted better than the ones they make:)

    However, not much luck with the rice cake soup. It seem to taste a bit bland and I can’t pinpoint what I should add to make the soup more flavorful. I live in New Zealand and I don’t see any 3 crab brand of fish sauce here. Do you think it’s a problem with the fish sauce I use and what would you recommend? thanks

    Posted April 13, 2009 at 2:27 am | #
    • Maangchi New York City My profile page
      joined August 6, 2008

      hmm, yeah, the fish sauce is very delicious, but if it is not available, use a different kind of fish sauce.
      To make good rice cake soup, the soup (stock) should be delicious. You could add some chicken broth or use more beef, or boil the water and beef longer until the stock turns good. Then add the sliced rice cakes.

      Posted April 13, 2009 at 7:27 am | #
  22. Maangchi New York City My profile page
    joined August 6, 2008

    Annabelle,
    You will get 2 large bowls of rice cake soup from this recipe.

    Posted March 21, 2009 at 9:23 pm | #
  23. Annabelle

    Hi Mananchi, If I serve large bowls of this soup (like in your video and pictures), can you tell me how many servings or bowls of soup this recipe makes? An estimate would be helpful! Thanks!

    Posted March 21, 2009 at 1:20 pm | #
  24. Briana

    Hi Maanchi!

    Yes, I was asking about the leftover soup, so I’ll make sure to make only the amount we can eat in one night. I am making this soup tomorrow for my family! Thank you for the recipe, and for replying so fast!

    Posted March 6, 2009 at 2:38 am | #
  25. Maangchi New York City My profile page
    joined August 6, 2008

    annie,
    Thank you for the update!

    Briana,
    I don’t understand your question. Do you like to know how to store sliced rice cake?
    Sliced rice cake should be kept either in the fridge or freezer. Personally I never save leftover rice cake soup.
    I usually make the right amount so there are no leftovers.

    Posted March 4, 2009 at 10:26 am | #
  26. Briana

    Yum! I can’t wait to make this! I love dduk mandoo guk! I was wondering, though: can I freeze or refrigerate this to save it?

    Posted March 4, 2009 at 12:29 am | #
  27. annie

    thank you maangchi! now my dduk gook tastes just like my mom’s. :) thank you so much for your recipes.

    Posted March 1, 2009 at 2:56 pm | #
  28. Maangchi New York City My profile page
    joined August 6, 2008

    annie,
    your rice cake soup really looks delicious! I like the clear looking soup that you made. : )

    Posted March 1, 2009 at 12:42 am | #
  29. annie

    i made this tonight for dinner!! thank you for your recipe maangchi :) http://flickr.com/photos/yeheunkim/3318299962/

    Posted February 28, 2009 at 11:00 pm | #
  30. Maangchi New York City My profile page
    joined August 6, 2008

    Anonymous,
    You can make ddukbokkie with the round rice cake.
    And also you can add it to “hot spicy fish stew (maewoontang) or kimchi stew. Delicious!

    Posted February 25, 2009 at 8:19 am | #
  31. Anonymous

    Other than this soup, what else can i make with these round rice cakes??

    Posted February 24, 2009 at 4:04 pm | #
  32. Maangchi New York City My profile page
    joined August 6, 2008

    Nishu,
    Yes, the stock made with dried anchovies could be used for ddeokguk, too. I actually prefer anchovy stock : ) You are an awesome cook!

    Posted February 2, 2009 at 10:24 am | #
  33. Nishu

    Anyong Haseyo Maangchi!
    Wow Wow Another Gr8 Recipe I made it yesterday is was so good and also in winter instead of beef i made stock with Dasshima and Myulchi and used Korean soup soy sauce it ws great with seasoning of kim & Egg
    Thank You ^_^V

    Posted February 2, 2009 at 8:16 am | #
  34. Maangchi New York City My profile page
    joined August 6, 2008

    sooji,
    Thank you very much!
    Regarding fish sauce, someone else asked the same question, so I answered her. I am copying and pasting my answer here.

    “There are 2 kinds of soy sauce that Koreans use: dark soy sauce (“jinganjang”(진간장)and soy sauce for soup called “gukganjang” (“국간장” in Korean)

    Koreans use gukganjang (soy sauce for soup) instead of fish sauce. I’m living in New York , so it’s difficult to make homemade gukganjang (soy sauce for soup). I know they sell it at a Korean grocery store here, but the taste is a little different from the soy sauce that I used to use in Korea.

    I found fish sauce gives the similar taste of well fermented gukganjang. That’s why I use fish sauce (“aekjjeot”: 액젓 in Korean) in ddeokguk. ”

    Check the forum where I posted this answer.
    http://www.maangchi.com/talk/topic/duk-gook

    Posted January 27, 2009 at 6:52 pm | #
  35. sooji

    maangchi i love your recipes! you wouldn’t believe how much help it has been in learning how to cook korean food! :)

    i was wondering though, what does the fish sauce do? i don’t remember my mother ever putting it in (i think she might instead put dashida) but i was just wondering what purpose it serves in the ddukgook. thanks maangchi!

    Posted January 27, 2009 at 5:19 pm | #
  36. Maangchi New York City My profile page
    joined August 6, 2008

    Liz,
    I’m glad to hear that your rice cake soup turned out great!

    James,
    Living in a dorm with a kitchen sounds fantastic! : ) I go to 32nd and 5th ave hanarum (한아름) market to get Korean groceries.

    Posted January 27, 2009 at 8:10 am | #
  37. James

    Hello Maangchi!

    I love this website! I’m a Korean-American living in New York City. I’m a college student, but I live in a dorm with a kitchen. I’m trying to cook Korean food for myself, but I’m finding it rather difficult to find the proper ingredients. So I was wondering where you go for groceries.

    Thanks,
    James

    Posted January 27, 2009 at 12:17 am | #
  38. Liz

    Hi Maagnchi,
    Your website is amazing and your recipes are so great! I made your 떡국 for the new year and it was delicious! Thank you so much :D

    Posted January 25, 2009 at 9:12 am | #
  39. Maangchi New York City My profile page
    joined August 6, 2008

    gabieolie,
    That’s a very good question! sure, some people use anchovy and sea kelp stock to make rice cake soup.

    Posted January 25, 2009 at 8:05 am | #
  40. gabieolie

    Hi Maangchi,

    Can I use anchovy and sea kelp to make the soup instead of beef? I was just wondering… I don’t have any beef in the refrigerator, but I have other ingredients ready to make this soup – just in time for the new year : )

    Posted January 25, 2009 at 12:46 am | #
  41. @hankido duk mandu guk is very simple. Just follow the above recipe, and about 10 min b4 the end, just add in the mandu (use either Maangchi’s recipe: http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/mandu or use the frozen kind). Done!

    Posted January 22, 2009 at 3:03 pm | #
  42. Confused

    Mm! I had some soup at a local Korean restaurant with those sliced rice cakes in it. It was described as a dumpling soup, and also had mandu in it. The sliced rice cakes were the best part, even though I didn’t know what they were.

    Posted January 22, 2009 at 2:00 pm | #
  43. hankido

    I love ddeok mandu guk even more -.^

    Posted January 22, 2009 at 8:37 am | #
  44. annie

    oh!!!! i love dduk gook :)

    Posted January 20, 2009 at 5:06 pm | #

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