One of the most beloved soul food for Koreans is Tteokbokki, spicy rice cake. It's a popular Korean food made from rice cakes with gochujang(red pepper paste)-based sauce. Tteokbokki is a common street food that can be easily found anywhere in Korea. There are many gourmet Tteokbokki-specialized restaurants in Korea that serve customers who have various tastes.
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| Instant Korean Spicy Rice Cake |
Many Koreans not only enjoy Tteokbokki at street vendors and restaurants, but also they make it on their own at home. Especially nowadays, it's very easy to find simple Tteokbokki packages at grocery stores. Even in the United States, you can find a variety of instant Tteokbokki packages in Korean markets.
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| Chakan Tteokbokki 450g for $4.99 |
The best way to make Tteokbokki is to get freshly-made rice cake and make the sauce from scratch. But for the rice cake, it's very difficult to find freshly-made one in the U.S., unless you live in Koreatown. For the sauce, it needs many different seasonings, like gochujang (red pepper paste), red pepper powder, soy sauce, sugar, corn syrup, minced garlic, etc., and it is definitely a lot of work. Getting all the ingredients can be more expensive, too. For these reasons, when I shop at a Korean market and see instant spicy rice cake packages, it's hard to resist not to get it.
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| Size of the package and inside |
I tried Chakan Tteokbokki this time. I have seen other similar products before with the same size and included items. The package is total 450g and contains 250g of rice cakes, 120g of red sauce and 80g (3 sheets) of fish cakes. I bought a original flavor package at a Korean market for $4.99.
There are two kinds of rice cake based on what they are made of. Traditionally, Rice cake is made with rice flour, but these days, rice cake made with wheat flour is becoming popular because of its chewier texture. The rice cakes in this product were made with wheat.
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| The package includes rice cakes, sauce and fish cakes |
Usually, instant spicy rice cake packages in Korea are not sold frozen, but since they are imported, frozen ones are more common in the U.S.
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| Nutrition Facts & ingredients |
The cooking instructions are simple and easy. Basically, cook all the ingredients in the package in 230ml of boiling water for 5 minutes and they are ready. The tastes wouldn't be too different from following the original instructions they suggest. But for the exact instructions:
- Cook 2 Tbs of cooking oil, sauce and rice cakes in a pan and stir for 1 minute and 30 seconds so the rice cakes get more seasoned.
- Add 230ml of water and fish cakes (cut bite-size) and cook for 3 minutes and 30 seconds.
- Serve and enjoy!
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| Instructions |
Tteokbokki is always better with green onions and cabbages are great in it as well. I added these two vegetables a good amount.
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| Followed the exact instructions |
And It's ready! The rice cakes are chewy and the sauce is spicy and sweet. Since it's quick and easy to make, it's a great snack or meal when you feel lazy. It's sweeter than other brands, because this product especially targets customers who miss old-time Tteokbokki flavors.
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| Instant Korean Spicy Rice Cake |
I recommend this product and any other similar instant spicy rice cake packages. Just store them in your freezer. When you feel like it, cook for 5 minutes and they are ready.
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| Tteokbokki |
I enjoyed the instant spicy rice cake with fish cake soup and fried dumplings and it made it a great dinner.
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