Hot and spicy rice cake

Tteokbokki 떡볶이

When I lived in Korea I learned the secret to making good tteokbokki from a famous place in a market. It was run by an old lady who could always be found stirring her tteokbokki. People were lined up to buy it.

I saw she used dried anchovies in her stock, and that ingredient made a huge difference in the flavor.

I once ran out of dried anchovies and made tteokbokki without it. It didn’t taste at all like what I was expecting. So don’t forget to always make a good stock with dried anchovies when you make this!

Ingredients

1 pound of cylinder shaped rice cake, bought or homemade. (Use a little more if you’re not adding hard boiled eggs and fish cakes)
4 cups of water
7 large size dried anchovies, with heads and intestines removed
6 x 8 inch dried kelp
⅓ cup hot pepper paste
1 tablespoon hot pepper flakes
1 tablespoon sugar
3 green onions, cut into 3 inch long pieces
2 hard boiled eggs, shelled (optional)
½ pound fish cakes (optional)

Directions

Add the water, dried anchovies, and dried kelp to a shallow pot or pan.
Boil for 15 minutes over medium high heat without the lid.
Combine hot pepper paste, hot pepper flakes, and sugar in a small bowl. Remove the anchovies and kelp from the pot and add the rice cake, the mixture in the bowl, the green onion, and the optional fish cakes and hard boiled eggs. The stock will be about 2 ½ cups.
Stir gently with a wooden spoon when it starts to boil. Keep stirring until the rice cake turns soft and the sauce thickens and looks shiny, which should take about 10 -15 minutes. If the rice cake is not soft enough, add more water and continue stirring until soften. When you use freshly made rice cake, it takes shorter time. If you use frozen rice cake, thaw it out and soak in cold water to soften it before cooking.
Remove from the heat and serve hot.

Posted on Monday, September 10th, 2007 at 8:56 pm. Last updated on August 7, 2017.
Tagged: cylinder shaped rice cake, ddeokbokki recipe, ddukbokki, 떡볶이 조리법, korean food, Korean recipes, korean snack, Korean spicy rice cake, Korean street snack, Maangchi recipes, spicy ricecake, tteokbokki, tteokbokki recipe

811 Comments:

Kashimonster POLAND joined 11/18 & has 1 comment
Posted November 14th, 2018 at 4:08 pm | Log in to reply.

Hi Mangchi! I love your videos, your recipes. Today again with my friend I made your spicy rice cakes! Like always it’s sooooo delicious. Thank you for your hard work, for your recipes, for your smile! Love from Poland

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Shef07 VA joined 10/18 & has 1 comment
Posted October 19th, 2018 at 6:57 pm | Log in to reply.

While thawing my rice cakes from Frozen they all split in half. What did I do wrong?

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Eljiah Malaysia joined 10/18 & has 1 comment
Posted October 19th, 2018 at 1:01 am | Log in to reply.

Hi!! Just wondering can I swap kelp & anchovies broth to chicken broth?
- Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 11,506 comments
  Posted October 19th, 2018 at 12:13 pm | Log in to reply.
  
  Yes, you can use chicken broth, too.
AbbyBregade America joined 10/18 & has 1 comment
Posted October 16th, 2018 at 11:23 am | Log in to reply.

Maangchi, mine never seems to thicken. Do store bought rice cakes affect it?
- Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 11,506 comments
  Posted October 19th, 2018 at 12:27 pm | Log in to reply.
  
  If you keep cooking and stirring the rice cake, the broth will thicken.
Sio lover Ksa joined 12/16 & has 46 comments
Posted September 30th, 2018 at 6:01 pm | Log in to reply.

I made the best rice cakes ever I made the dough and I made the sauce
What do you think?!

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- Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 11,506 comments
  Posted October 6th, 2018 at 3:26 pm | Log in to reply.
  
  Wow it’s amazing! Mouthwatering!
Persomnus PNW, America joined 9/18 & has 1 comment
Posted September 30th, 2018 at 4:39 pm | Log in to reply.

Thank you so much for this recipe! I had this dish at a Korean restaurant on my 20th birthday and LOVED it. Thankfully I live near a Korean supermarket so I can get all the right ingredients and cook it up. VERY spicy but worth all the flavor!!
trudefaith victor mt joined 4/14 & has 2 comments
Posted September 20th, 2018 at 11:04 am | Log in to reply.

I LOVE THIS RECIPE. I used my rich chicken broth with some fish sauce added, I also added thick bacon pieces and chunks of cabbage along with rice cakes and hard boiled eggs.I will be making this often. Oh man this is wonderful stuff! Thank you maangchi
Shaz11 Sydney joined 9/18 & has 1 comment
Posted September 10th, 2018 at 7:45 pm | Log in to reply.

How many servings is this recipe?
Thanks!
Nadhi Brunei joined 8/18 & has 1 comment
Posted August 6th, 2018 at 5:12 am | Log in to reply.

Hii!! I really love this recipe, but the sause is too spicy for others(im okay with spicy food) i try to add more sugar but the spiciness is still and the sauce become too sweet is there any other way to make it less spicy? Thank you
- seashells Seattle, WA joined 8/18 & has 1 comment
  Posted August 16th, 2018 at 7:36 pm | Log in to reply.
  
  Hi Nadhi! I would leave out the red pepper flakes.

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Hot and spicy rice cake
Korean name: 떡볶이
Romanized: Tteokbokki
Also Romanized as: ddukbokkie, topokki, ddeokbokki, dduk bok ki, dduk bok kie, dduk bok kie, dduk bok kee, dduk bok ki, ddukbokki

Categories: rice cake, snack, spicy
Made with: dried anchovies, dried kelp, eggs, fish cakes, green onion, hot pepper flakes, hot pepper paste, rice cake, sugar, water,