Tteokbokki

Made of special rice cakes, tteokbokki is a ubiquitous Korean dish that can be “dressed up” or down all the way from extravagant with loads of ingredients to super simple, with just the rice cakes and sauce.

The name tteokbokki comes from rice cakes, called tteok — in this case, the tubular garae-tteok.

At its most basic, it can be made of just tteok and a sweet-savory-spicy gochujang sauce, eaten with toothpicks. This version is commonly sold from street food stalls. More complex versions can include fish cakes, eggs, scallions, sesame seeds, meats, dumplings, cheese, different sauces — for example, non-spicy sweet-savory soy-based sauce — and other ingredients. Ramyeon instant noodles are a popular addition too, turning tteokbokki into rabokki. These “fancier” types of tteokbokki are found in sit-down restaurants or just in home cooking.

The great thing about tteokbokki (besides everything) is that it really can be made however you like. Soupier or drier, sweeter or spicier, quick and easy with a water base or more involved with soup or anchovy stock for fuller flavor, fried for crispiness or purely simmered for chewiness… Granted, that is technically true of any dish to an extent, but tteokbokki is, by its very nature, defined by its adaptability. You can make it pretty much however you like!

At Uwajimaya, you can find frozen tteok rice cakes or the ingredients to make fresh ones. And, whether you’re just making a simple tteok-and-sauce version or a complex tteokbokki filled with loads of other components and a full-bodied, stock-based gochujang sauce, Uwajimaya’s home to all the ingredients you’ll need.