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Tteokbokki
Tteokbokki is a popular spicy and slightly sweet Korean dish, snack, and street food. It is stir fried Tteok (rice cake) made with traditional Korean flavors like Gochujang and anchovies. Fish cake and hard boiled eggs are common ingredients. The popular food pairing is anything fried, like gimmari (fried seaweed noodle rolls). Honestly dipping anything into the delicious sauce is amazing!
This is a simple tteokbokki recipe that is quick, delicious and versatile. It is ready to eat as is or you can add any vegetable you want. Also, feel free to make it more or less spicy by adjusting the amount of Gochujang and Gochugaru to taste.
There are other versions of Tteobokki that are Trending in Korea called Rose Tteokbokki, they are creamy and less spicy. We have 2 recipes for Rose Tteokbokki: Creamy Tomato Sauce Rose Tteokbokki (mild) and Creamy Gochujang Rose Tteokbokki (medium) if you are interested in checking out the latest craze.
Ingredients
Let’s talk about the ingredients
The ingredients are simple but there are a few very important points to note. The above ingredients are the basics, except for eggs, it is important to not skip or substitute any of them. Be sure to use large dried anchovies and dried kelp (called Dashima) to make the broth for this will make or break your Tteokbokki dish. Gochujang is Korean red pepper paste or chili paste. Gochugaru is Korean red chili flakes. Tteok for tteokbokki are cylinder in shape, however you can find these in a few sizes. Fish Cake and Tteok can be found in the frozen section. All of ingredients pictured can be found in your local Asian grocery store.
Making Simple Spicy Traditional Tteokbokki.
Prep
If using frozen rice cake and fish cake, be sure to thaw in bowl of water before cooking.
Meanwhile, boil eggs for 7 minutes for the perfect egg. Wash and chop green onions to 4″ long pieces. Peel and mince garlic.
Fish cake: slice into 2″ strips
Dried Anchovies: remove the head and intestines.
Broth
In a large shallow pan, add water, dried kelp and anchovies. Simmer for 15 minutes.
Remove Kelp and Anchovies from the broth. Add Gochujang, Gochugaru, brown sugar, garlic and stir well.
Add green onions, hard boiled eggs, rice cake and fish cake. Simmer for 10 minutes or until rice cakes are soft. Add water accordingly.
Serve
If you can’t find Tteokbokki Ingredients at your local Asian store, I found these on Amazon.
Simple Traditional Spicy Tteokbokki
Ingredients
- 1 lbs Tteokbokki Rice Cake thawed
- ½ lbs fish cake thawed, sliced into 2" strips
- 2 hard boiled chicken eggs or 4 hard boiled quail eggs, peeled
- 4 stalks green onions washed and chopped 4" long
- ¼ cup Gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste)
- 1 TBS Gochugaru (Korean hot pepper flakes)
- 1 TBS brown sugar
- 4 cups water
- 8 Large dried anchovies remove head and intestines
- 1 sheet Dashima (dried kelp)
- 3 cloves garlic peeled, minced
Instructions
- If using frozen fish cakes and Tteok (rice cake), place in a bowl of water to thaw. Slice fish cake into 2" strips.
- Boil 2 eggs for 7 minutes, peel and set aside.
- Remove and discard head and intestines from dried anchovies.
- In a large shallow pan, add water, dried anchovies and Dashima. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Remove the dried anchovies and Dashima from the broth.
- Add Gochujang, Gochugaru, brown sugar and garlic into the broth and mix well.
- Add green onions, hard boiled eggs, Tteok (rice cakes) and fish cake. Simmer for 10 minutes or until the Tteok is soft. Add more water as needed.