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 May 4, 2019.
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

868 Comments:

Rehemachan Idaho joined 8/20 & has 2 comments
Posted August 11th, 2020 at 1:27 pm | Log in to reply.

This looks so good, i cant wait to try it. going to my local korean market after work.
Christina_A Philippines joined 6/20 & has 1 comment
Posted June 17th, 2020 at 1:25 pm | Log in to reply.

you’re recipes are always my go to whenever I cook korean food. Tonight I tried this and it tastes good as always. Thank you! Sending love from the Philippines

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Zeluha Lowell, MA joined 6/20 & has 1 comment
Posted June 4th, 2020 at 5:20 pm | Log in to reply.

I found this in my local Korean market – I’m a huge fan of these since I just let them boil and remove the entire packet. Includes the anchovies AND kelp!

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laura21 Philippines joined 5/20 & has 2 comments
Posted May 25th, 2020 at 4:16 am | Log in to reply.

We are going to try this during quarantine Maangchi! Thank you soo much! Keep Safe
Bi Bi Kuala Lumpur joined 5/20 & has 1 comment
Posted May 11th, 2020 at 8:22 am | Log in to reply.

I used your recipe and made rabokki for my family yesterday! It turned out so good!

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- Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 12,074 comments
  Posted May 20th, 2020 at 5:39 pm | Log in to reply.
  
  Nice! I’m getting hungry now! : )
- Rehemachan Idaho joined 8/20 & has 2 comments
  Posted August 11th, 2020 at 1:27 pm | Log in to reply.
  
  This looks so good!!!
Valkyrie143 Orlando, FL joined 4/20 & has 1 comment
Posted April 19th, 2020 at 3:10 am | Log in to reply.

Just made this but without using the kelp and anchovies! I used chicken stock and added the Hondashi bonito soup stock packet. It came out delicious!
- Sbrice Naples joined 5/20 & has 1 comment
  Posted May 19th, 2020 at 4:48 pm | Log in to reply.
  
  How much chicken broth did you use? I’m looking to make this but was also going to omit the kelp and anchovies
  - BLMSaxon USA joined 6/20 & has 3 comments
    Posted July 27th, 2020 at 1:39 pm | Log in to reply.
    
    Maangchi says in the recipe that she ends up with 2 1/2 cups of stock.
samithebest atlanta joined 4/20 & has 1 comment
Posted April 17th, 2020 at 11:20 pm | Log in to reply.

Hi Maangchi! I made this recipe and at the end it tasted odd. Like too much gochujang flavor? What should I do to prevent that flavor?
befuzzled US joined 4/20 & has 1 comment
Posted April 9th, 2020 at 5:32 pm | Log in to reply.

Hi~ I was just wondering how many people this recipe serves. I was hoping on cooking this for my family and I’d like to buy the right amount of ingredients to serve all five of us.
- Food fan Washington, DC joined 5/20 & has 1 comment
  Posted May 1st, 2020 at 12:45 am | Log in to reply.
  
  1/4 pound of tteokbokki is about 300 calories. So if you’re adding fish cakes, eggs, etc., then this recipe (1 pound) can serve 4.
  
  I just made 1 pound and only added egg, scallion, and a few shrimp. It made 3 servings for dinner with no leftover.
  
  If you have a very big appetite, then 1 pound would serve 2.
DevorahTF Michigan, USA joined 3/20 & has 13 comments
Posted April 7th, 2020 at 5:45 pm | Log in to reply.

I love to make Tteokbokki, and it is a favorite in my house. I started making my own rice cakes because with the pandemic, I can’t get the frozen ones. Must be some kind of a supply chain issue…

Anyway, tomorrow night start Passover. My family is Jewish and we are getting ready. Today for dinner I decided to make Tteokbokki as an easy meal that everyone can just eat as they go while we do our cleaning and preparations.

I had three jars of Gefilte fish, but for our meals I will only need two. I was simmering the Tteokbokki when it occurred to me: I could use this for the fish cakes! Ha! We are vegetarians, so I never get fish cakes. But for Passover we always eat this special fish.

I tried it and it was fantastic! It is pretty much the same thing if you just slice it like I did in this picture. So if you see Gefilte Fish in your grocery store on sale after Passover, you could try this! Maangchi, I hope you would approve!

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Jennym Washington dc joined 3/20 & has 1 comment
Posted March 24th, 2020 at 11:53 pm | Log in to reply.

Hi,

Could I use a store bought stock bag? The tea bags with the anchovy and kelp? Thank you!!
LilBunnyBlue Md joined 3/20 & has 2 comments
Posted March 24th, 2020 at 6:11 pm | Log in to reply.

I was looking at your recipe for tteokbokki and reading comments section.. Its my first time wanting to try to make it so driving home i stopped at the local asian market near me (it a little larger than a convenience store) and i was unable to find frozen rice flour but i did find rice flour and glutinous rice flour on the regular shelves. Can i use either of these instead.? I would hate to waste ingredients or discourage myself by making wrong dishes. Pleas help?
- LilBunnyBlue Md joined 3/20 & has 2 comments
  Posted March 25th, 2020 at 7:23 pm | Log in to reply.
  
  I decided to make it with a recipe adaption I found to make the rice cakes then i followed your(maangchi) tteokbokki recipe substituted low sodium chicken broth for anchovy/kelp broth… I think it turned out well.
  
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AudreyA New York, New York joined 10/18 & has 3 comments
Posted February 15th, 2020 at 12:58 pm | Log in to reply.

I love this recipe and I’ve made it a few times but now I’m on a diet and I can’t eat rice cakes, so today I made it with grilled tofu! Maybe not as good as it is with rice cakes, but it was delicious and makes dieting easy :)
Lili1919 Ga joined 2/20 & has 1 comment
Posted February 7th, 2020 at 2:31 pm | Log in to reply.

Hello Maangchi,
Just wanted to thank you again for all your delicious recipes. Today I made your Tteokbokki recipe and it’s awesome.

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- Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 12,074 comments
  Posted February 7th, 2020 at 5:05 pm | Log in to reply.
  
  Yes, your tteokbokki looks super tasty! Congratulations!

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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,