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 Monday, September 10th, 2007 at 8:56 pm.
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

760 Comments:

MochaMocha The Bahamas joined 10/17
Posted October 14th, 2017 at 4:57 pm | # | Log in to reply.

Maangchi it’s my first time making 떡볶이. Well, it’s my first time making anything Korean. I usually just watch your videos but now I can finally cook something. My Korean friend sent the frozen 떡 to me. I’m so excited to try this recipe!! Wish me luck I hope I do well and make you proud ^^
- Maangchi New York City joined 8/08
  Posted October 19th, 2017 at 9:57 pm | # | Log in to reply.
  
  How did your tteokbokki turn out?
bertman4 Seattle, WA joined 10/17
Posted October 13th, 2017 at 1:03 am | # | Log in to reply.

This recipe has become a staple for me and my friends. Always delicious!

See full size image
Lea New Zealand joined 9/14
Posted September 24th, 2017 at 2:51 am | # | Log in to reply.

Hi Maangchi,

I’ve done your tteokbokki recipe a lot of times and always love it. But I am pregnant right now and can’t have spicy food.. how much brown sugar should I add if I were to make this? Or should I lessen the chilli paste too? But I’m afraid the taste might differ if I do.. (I don’t normally put in pepper flakes so this is out of the question)

Hope you read this and reply.. just saw some tteokbokki photos on facebook and craving right now!

Thank you so much!
Lea
ataezing Toronto joined 9/17
Posted September 22nd, 2017 at 10:14 pm | # | Log in to reply.

I’m interested in trying this recipe and I’m wondering how long the prep time is. Also how many servings is this recipe?? Much Thanks!
Sio lover Ksa joined 12/16
Posted September 21st, 2017 at 12:23 pm | # | Log in to reply.

Can I use beef broth cubes instead of the anchovies ?
- Maangchi New York City joined 8/08
  Posted September 22nd, 2017 at 9:17 am | # | Log in to reply.
  
  Yes, you can use it. Whatever is used, if the broth is tasty, the tteokbokki will taste good.
JessicaG Quezon City, Philippines joined 9/17
Posted September 17th, 2017 at 8:08 am | # | Log in to reply.

I made and ate my first Tteokbokki today and I liked it! Thanks for the recipe Maangchi! I just made some revisions – didn’t add pepper flakes anymore, added more sugar and added a little white vinegar since the gochujang was hotter than my family can tolerate. I used fresh garatteok from our local Korean store. I will try to make my own garatteok next time.

See full size image
Akvile Norway joined 9/17
Posted September 6th, 2017 at 8:50 am | # | Log in to reply.

Hi, Maangchi. its my first time making tteokbokki. Are they suposed to taste spisy and sweet or I can ad salt? :) I didnt use the fish cakes in the recipe as I didnt have them.
- jseolhee bali joined 9/17
  Posted September 12th, 2017 at 1:36 pm | # | Log in to reply.
  
  It supposed to sweet and spicy.. But gochujang(hot pepper paste) already taste salty..
  I usually add soy sauce if want to be abit salty, and its smell really good..
  Try to change the fish cake with fried thin ham.. its also good.. ;)
Colowly Philippines joined 8/17
Posted August 20th, 2017 at 7:50 pm | # | Log in to reply.

Hi Maangchi! I need your help! I bought frozen rice cakes few months ago from korean grocery store and I decided to make this today. But when I got it from the freezer, I saw the 2017.7.28 expiration date on the bag. It’s already August 21, 2017 and almost a month sinice it ‘expired’. Can’t I use it anymore? Pls help me! Thankyou!
- Maangchi New York City joined 8/08
  Posted August 23rd, 2017 at 11:29 am | # | Log in to reply.
  
  If it was frozen all this time, and it looks fine, it should be ok to use.
jwilli1994 Louisiana joined 8/17
Posted August 10th, 2017 at 2:09 pm | # | Log in to reply.

Hi!

I tried your recipe and it was very good!! The only question I have is how to make the rice cake absorb the sauce better? It did not feel like the rice cake absorbed any of the sauce.

Thanks you!
- adamjbc U.S. joined 8/17
  Posted August 16th, 2017 at 5:14 pm | # | Log in to reply.
  
  You won’t have much luck getting the rice cakes to absorb the sauce since they are so solid, but you can maybe try making the sauce thicker so that more of it stays on the rice cake instead. Just a thought.
Bflobear Buffalo, ny joined 8/17
Posted August 7th, 2017 at 7:58 pm | # | Log in to reply.

I have found some dried rice stick that recommends soaking overnight. I’m curious if this can be skipped by using a pressure cooker? I haven’t been able to find any advice for or against. Any help would be appreciated!

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English name: 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,