Tteokguk (Rice Cake Soup) 🍜

Name: Tteokguk (Rice Cake Soup)
Prep time: 18 min
Cook time: 27 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 2-4 servings
Cuisine: Korean
Ingredients: 300 g garaetteok (cylinder rice cakes), sliced 5 mm thin; 1.2 L beef brisket stock or anchovy-kelp stock; 150 g beef brisket or sirloin, thin sliced; 1 tbsp soy sauce + 1/2 tsp garlic, for marinating beef; 2 eggs, separated, fried into thin plain omelettes and shredded; 1 spring onion, sliced on the bias; 1 tsp minced garlic; 1 tsp sesame oil; salt and ground white pepper to taste; optional: dried seaweed; toasted sesame; Korean rice wine or a pinch of salt for seasoning

New Year's Day in Korea is measured in bowls of tteokguk: you do not ask someone's age, you ask how many bowls they have eaten. Sliced cylinder rice cakes simmer in a clear beef or anchovy broth until chewy-slippery, then laced with thin ribbons of egg — whites and yolks fried separately and shredded, because pale coins and golden threads are said to bring silver and gold in the year ahead. Marinated beef slices, garlic and a crown of spring onion turn it into the most auspicious bowl of the calendar.

Seoul Korean ⏱ 45 min Easy

Method

1

Toss the sliced beef with soy and garlic and set aside. Soak rice-cake slices in cool water 10 minutes so they cook evenly and the soup stays clear.
2

Bring the stock to a boil with the minced garlic; add the drained rice cakes and cook 5-7 minutes, stirring, until they float and turn tender-chewy.
3

Push the soup to one side, add the marinated beef in a single layer and cook until just opaque — do not boil hard or it toughens.
4

Season with salt, white pepper and sesame oil; stir in the spring onion.
5

Ladle into bowls and dress each with a tidy nest of white and gold egg shreds. Serve immediately, while the rice cakes are at their bounciest.

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Tteokguk (Rice Cake Soup) 🍜

Method

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