Korean Royal court stir fried rice cakes

Gungjung-tteokbokki 궁중떡볶이

Hello, everybody!

We’ve been learning about Korean tteokbokki for over a month now! We learned how to make garaetteok from scratch, which is used to make hot spicy tteokbokki, rice cake soup, and today’s recipe: Gungjung-tteokbokki, or royal court stir fried rice cake. It’s a non-spicy dish and calls for a variety of colorful vegetables, mushrooms, and marinated beef.

Gungjung-tteokbokki is actually the original tteokbokki and is very different than the more well-known red, spicy version. It has a lot more ingredients, for one, and it’s stir fried and it’s made with soy sauce. It was originally served in the royal court during the Chosŏn dynasty (1392–1910) and was considered to be a very fancy haute cuisine. This was before hot peppers were introduced or popular in Korea, so it isn’t spicy at all.

After gochujang was developed, a lot of people added it to Gungjung-tteokbokki to make it spicy. But after the Korean war (1950-1953) a small store in Sindang-dong Seoul got famous by selling a cheap snack of spicy tteokbokki made with flour-based rice cakes. This eventually became the spicy tteokbokki that’s so popular today.

Enjoy the recipe! My tteokbokki series is finished now. I’ll meet you guys with a new recipe soon!

Ingredients (for 4 servings)

For marinade:

  1. 1 garlic clove, minced
  2. ½ teaspoon soy sauce
  3. ½ teaspoon honey (or sugar)
  4. ¼ teaspoon of ground black pepper
  5. ½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Vegetables:

  • 2 cups white mushrooms, sliced into bite sized pieces
  • ⅓ cup carrot, cut into matchsticks
  • ½ cup green bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
  • ½ cup red bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
  • ½ cup onion, sliced

Directions

Prepare your ingredients:

  1. Cut the beef brisket into matchsticks. Mix the marinade ingredients together and add the beef. Keep in the fridge.gungjungddeokbokki beef
  2. Separate the egg yolks from the whites. Beat the yolks and add a pinch of salt.
  3. If you buy frozen rice cakes, thaw them out. And if your rice cakes are really big and thick, you should soak them in water for 5 minutes so they will soften up during cooking. The rice cakes I used in this video were small enough that they didn’t need to be soaked.
  4. Slice the vegetables and mushrooms, as described above.gunjungtteokbokki ingredients

Make gyerannoreunjajidan (yellow egg yolk strips) to use as a garnish:

  1. Add a few drops of cooking oil to a heated non-stick pan. Wipe off any extra hot oil with a paper towel.
  2. Turn the heat down very low. Pour the egg yolks into the pan and tilt it in different ways so the yolks spread thinly and form a sheet at the bottom.
  3. Turn off the heat and let the thin egg sheet finish cooking on the residual heat of the pan. When it’s 70% cooked flip it over and let it cook on the other side.
  4. Slice the yolk sheet into strips and set it aside.gyeranjidan

Put it all together:

  1. Heat up a skillet and add 2 teaspoons of cooking oil, 1 clove of minced garlic, and the marinated beef. Stir for a few minutes until the beef is half cooked.
  2. Add all the sliced vegetables and mushrooms. Stir for 1 minute.gungjungddeokbokki vegetables
  3. Add the rice cakes, ½ cup water, 4 teaspoons of soy sauce, 1 Tablespoon of rice syrup (or honey or sugar), and ½ teaspoon of ground black pepper. Keep stirring for 2 to 3 minutes until everything is juicy and shiny and the rice cake softens.gungjung ddeokbokkigungjungddeokbokki
  4. Add 1 teaspoon of toasted sesame oil before removing from the heat. Transfer to a plate and garnish with sesame seeds, the yellow egg yolk strips (gyerannoreunjajidan), and chopped pine nuts if you have them.
  5. Serve hot.

royal court ddeokbokki

Posted on Saturday, February 9th, 2013 at 3:59 pm. Last updated on July 29, 2021.
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32 Comments:

  1. Sigunsdottir Oregon joined 1/18 & has 1 comment
    Posted January 29th, 2018 at 11:11 pm | or create a profile.

    Hello!
    I always found spicy rice cakes very attractive and was upset, that I can’t tolerate spicy food al all, so, I was very happy, when I found this recipe (and whole site!)
    I doubled amount of everything, but when we started eating, I realized, I made a horrible mistake: I should cook at least 4 lbs of it! Seriously, one of the best foods I ever ate! Barely anything left for tomorrow.
    Meat was very lean round steak and I took oyster mushrooms (store had very good ones).


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  2. Tessa United States joined 5/14 & has 3 comments
    Posted September 25th, 2017 at 9:06 pm | or create a profile.

    I wanted to make this for a long time, tonight I finally did. I was so pleased with the flavor on this dish. I love the chewy texture of rice cakes, I’m glad I have another favorite dish to use them in. I could not find a small Brisket beef, so I ended up using tenderloin. Thank you Maangchi.


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  3. Evilisa Dallas, TX joined 4/16 & has 1 comment
    Posted April 22nd, 2016 at 9:40 am | or create a profile.

    We made this last night for dinner. We will be making this often forever. So very good. Actually this is the third recipe of yours I’ve made and they have all been popular in my house.

    So I decided to sign in and let you know. You Rock!

  4. elleykat joined 7/15 & has 3 comments
    Posted July 12th, 2015 at 8:50 pm | or create a profile.

    Thank you for this recipe! I tried this while I was in LA and loved it so much, I wanted to make it for my husband when I came home. I searched on Google for a recipe and was so happy your website was the #1 result! I made you mak-kimchi recipe and it was so good, and I’ve watched lots of your videos. This turned out so good, and I made the short grain rice flour and garaetokkk using your recipes too. :) My husband says “that was probably one of the best things I’ve ever eaten.” Next time I will try to make your yellow pickled radish and also jjajangmyeon, and my husband asks me to please make him spicy rice cakes. Thank you Maangchi!

  5. moonlightsonata egypt joined 2/15 & has 3 comments
    Posted May 29th, 2015 at 12:31 am | or create a profile.

    Thanks a lot maangchi my little sister have a problem with spicy food … and she really wanted to taste the rise cakes
    I am going to make her these (she just got her results and she succeed )
    This will be my present for her
    Thanks maangchi thanks alot

  6. Cuban Nerd FL joined 6/14 & has 1 comment
    Posted June 15th, 2014 at 1:49 pm | or create a profile.

    This is awesome. I’ve recently got interested in Korean food after trying some once. I loved it. Since then I’ve been trying to cook some recipes for myself and for a good friend who loves it. This one in particular looks delicious.

  7. sweetmouth brooklyn, ny joined 4/10 & has 11 comments
    Posted January 21st, 2014 at 11:50 am | or create a profile.

    i’m making this tonight for my parents ahh so excited<3 wish me luck!

  8. Widget Surrey, B.C.,Canada joined 1/14 & has 1 comment
    Posted January 17th, 2014 at 6:36 am | or create a profile.

    Thank you Maangchi! I have an adopted Korean daughter and have tried for years to find somewhere to get cooking lessons for Korean food. Now that I have found your website, I have tried many recipes and have had success with all of them. You make them so simple and easy to understand and your videos are great. Japchae and Royal court stir fried rice cakes are definitely two of my favorites. Thanks again.

    • Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 12,047 comments
      Posted January 17th, 2014 at 10:08 am | or create a profile.

      You are learning Korean cooking for your daughter who came from Korea! I feel so warm! You are such a great mom. I’d like to meet you and your daughter someday! Don’t forget to say hello to your daughter for me! : )

  9. tohru314 Arizona joined 8/13 & has 2 comments
    Posted August 31st, 2013 at 2:15 am | or create a profile.

    Finally I can learn how to make the korean dishes I’ve loved for years! All of my friends growing up were Korean and I have such fond memories of eating homemade korean dishes at their houses everyday. Thank you so much Maangchi! The recipes I have tried so far have been delicious!

  10. angela b virginia joined 9/12 & has 1 comment
    Posted May 7th, 2013 at 11:47 am | or create a profile.

    Thank you Manngchi!
    This was so delicious and now one of my favorite Korean dishes!!!

  11. alyeska907 Anchorage, Alaska joined 3/13 & has 2 comments
    Posted March 21st, 2013 at 5:31 pm | or create a profile.

    So happy that I found you Maangchi! I’m an Alaskan that loves Korean food and now I can learn how to create all the dishes that I love to eat at my local Korean Barbecue place here in Anchorage. Ddeokbokki is one of my favorites and looking forward to making the ‘Royal Court’ version. Looks tasty! I’ll let you know how it turns out.

    P.S. I made your Kimchi recipe a few days ago and am now letting it ferment in the fridge. I ate a little bit of it last night and it is tasting great! Oh, did I mention that there’s a huge Korean community here in Alaska? Finding all the ingredients necessary is easy as there are many Korean and international markets here.

    -Michael

  12. Lesliejane Canada joined 3/13 & has 2 comments
    Posted March 11th, 2013 at 12:35 am | or create a profile.

    This looks delicious. I am a Canadian married to a korean and i have started blogging about Korean food. I will link back to this one when I make it. I just need to go and get some rice cakes! :)

  13. Wadeinh2o Minneapolis Mn joined 3/13 & has 1 comment
    Posted March 2nd, 2013 at 7:59 pm | or create a profile.

    Thank you for this recipe. I made it this evening and it’s delicious! I really love your videos and blog. Thank you for helping me dive deeper into Korean cuisine!

  14. MyeolchiGirl Canada joined 2/13 & has 2 comments
    Posted February 27th, 2013 at 3:43 pm | or create a profile.

    Thank you so much for posting all of your wonderful recipes! My best friend who I’ve known for 20 years is Korean and I grew up with her mothers food, this brings back all the memories of my adolescence. Your instructions are easy to follow and the outcome is delicious! This recipe is a new favorite of mine! Thank you again!

    • Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 12,047 comments
      Posted February 28th, 2013 at 12:59 pm | or create a profile.

      Nice meeting you! I love your id “myeolchigirl”. Myeolchi is anchovies, so I assume you love anchovies or you are very slim like myeolchi! : )
      “I grew up with her mothers food, this brings back all the memories of my adolescence…” yes, certain food always brings back good memories.

      • MyeolchiGirl Canada joined 2/13 & has 2 comments
        Posted March 2nd, 2013 at 10:05 am | or create a profile.

        You are right I love myeolchi! The name is because my best friend’s mother-in-law who is also Korean was being cheeky one day (we had just met) while I was visiting her house. She invited us to stay for lunch (I of course couldn’t refuse as I love Korean food and would never pass up an opportunity to have some). She had no idea that I had grown up eating at my best friends house and started passing the side dishes around. She giggled when I put a heaping pile of myeolchi on my plate thinking I wouldn’t like it. I told her that not only am I Portuguese and have had a healthy diet with fish in it, I also have been eating myeolchi since I was twelve years old. From that day on she has always called me myeolchi girl.

  15. Bandairae Florida to Ohio joined 11/11 & has 2 comments
    Posted February 9th, 2013 at 7:30 pm | or create a profile.

    This looks fantastic and delicious! I’ve been wanting to make ddeokbokki for a while now but I’m very sensitive to spicy food, so I’m very excited about gungjung ddeokbokki.

    I always become very giddy when you upload a new video. I can’t wait to start cooking all of these wonderful Korean dishes.

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