Tuk-guk Rice Cake Soup 떡국

Tukguk is a traditional Korean soup dish that is eaten during the celebration of the Korean New Year. It is tradition to eat this soup on New Year's day because it’s believed to gain an additional year of life as well as bring in luck in the forthcoming year. The dish consists of thinly sliced rice cakes in a broth/soup and it’s usually garnished with thin julienned cooked eggs, some marinated meat (usually beef), and dried, crushed lavers.

The broth is generally made by simmering the main protein (beef, chicken, pork, seafood) in a soy sauce-based seasoned stock. The stock is then strained to clarify the broth and long cylinder-shaped rice cakes (garaetteok) are thinly sliced diagonally and boiled in the broth. Garnish is added before serving and it may vary by region and personal taste.

Varieties of tukguk exists but a popular one is tuk mandooguk which is made by simply adding Korean dumplings.

Recipe Ingredients

20 sticks rice cake 1 lb beef (cut into thin strips and season) 4 oz ground beef 4 eggs 3 tbsp laver powder 1 green onion 2 tbsp chopped green onion 2 tsp chopped garlic 3 tbsp soy sauce 1 tsp sesame salt 2 tsp sesame oil Flour

Cooking Directions

1. Leave soft sticks of rice cake out overnight to harden and cut them diagonally into oval pieces when hard.
2. Season and shape the ground beef into meatballs ¾" in diameter.
3. Dip them into flour, then into beaten egg and fry.
4. Pan-fry beaten egg into a thin sheet and cut it into thin strips.
5. Fry the beef in a pot and boil it with 8 cups of water.
6. When the meat flavor permeates the broth, add the rice-cake slices and bring to a boil.
7. Season the soup with soy sauce and salt and add the diagonally cut green onion.
8. Place rice-cake soup in a bowl and top it with the egg strips, meatballs and powdered laver.