Tteokguk (Korean Rice Cake Soup)

Method

1. Soak the rice cakes in cold water for 20 min. This applies to frozen or hard rice cakes too: soaked, they cook evenly instead of turning mushy outside while still hard in the middle. Meanwhile, press the beef with kitchen paper to soak up the blood and cut it into thin 2 cm pieces. Slice the leek diagonally 0.5 cm thick and beat the egg in a bowl.

2. Put the sesame oil, beef and garlic in a 18 cm pot and stir-fry over medium heat for 2 min 30 sec, until the meat has turned grey with no red left. Browning the beef first is what gives the broth its nutty depth. Keep stirring so the garlic does not burn.

   Add in this stepToasted sesame oil 2 tspBeef brisket, for soup 120 gMinced garlic 1 tsp

   medium heat

3. Pour in the water, add half the soup soy sauce and bring to the boil over high heat, about 6 min. When it boils hard, skim off the grey foam with a spoon. Then turn down to medium-low heat and simmer for 15 min to draw the flavour out of the beef. The broth should be clear and the meat tender.

   Add in this stepWater 900 mlKorean soup soy sauce (guk-ganjang) ¾ tbsp

   high heat→medium-low heat

4. Drain the soaked rice cakes and add them to the pot with the rest of the soup soy sauce. Cook over medium-high heat for 5 min, stirring once at the start so they do not stick to the bottom. They are done when they float to the surface and feel soft when pressed. Taste the broth and add salt if needed.

   Add in this stepSliced rice cakes for soup (tteokguk tteok) 300 gKorean soup soy sauce (guk-ganjang) ¾ tbspSalt to taste

   medium-high heat

5. Pour the beaten egg slowly over the surface in a circle, starting from the edge of the pot, and leave it untouched over medium heat for 1 min. Stirring straight away clouds the broth; wait until the egg has set into soft ribbons and floated up, then stir gently once. Add the leek and pepper and turn off the heat.

   Add in this stepEgg 1Korean leek or thick spring onion (daepa) ½Ground black pepper 1 pinch

   medium heat

6. Ladle the rice cakes and broth into bowls, crumble the seaweed over the top with your fingers and serve at once. Rice cakes keep soaking up broth and go soft as they sit, so the soup is best cooked just before eating.

   Add in this stepRoasted seaweed sheets (gim / nori) 1