Tteokbokki (also spelled ddukbokki, ddeokbokki, dukbokki or topokki), 떡볶이, is a beloved Korean rice cake dish with many variations and a rich history. Literally translated as “stir-fried rice cake”, tteokbokki is made with garaetteok, a cylinder-shaped white rice cake. This spicy rice cake dish is enormously popular as a street food and also often enjoyed at home.
Unlike gungjung tteokbokki, which has been around for hundreds of years, the red spicy tteokbokki has a relatively short history. It was developed in 1953, the year the Korean War ended, by a woman named Ma Bok-rim in the Sindang-dong neighborhood in Seoul. The chewy rice cake in a spicy gochujang sauce instantly became popular as an affordable comfort snack.
By the time I was growing up as a child, tteokbokki had become quite popular as a street food. The tteokbokki I grew up with was in its classic form without all the add-ins you see today. I have fond memories of eating it from street carts or market stalls as an after-school snack.
Garaetteok (가래떡), a cylinder-shaped white rice cake, is used in various ways in Korea. The thick type is sliced into thin oval shapes for making tteokguk (rice cake soup). The thinner, shorter type is used for tteokbokki, hence the name tteokbokki tteok (떡볶이떡).
You can use either one for this recipe, but the thick type needs to be cut thinner and shorter for this recipe, or it will take much longer to cook.
Depending on where you live, you can find tteokbokki rice cakes freshly made, refrigerated, or frozen at Korean markets. They come in various shapes and sizes. Needless to say, locally made fresh ones are the best ones to use, but good quality refrigerated ones are fine as well. Avoid buying frozen ones: they tend to be dry, easy to crack and not chewy.
The spicy tteokbokki sauce is usually made with a combination of gochujang (고추장, Korean red chili pepper paste) and gochugaru (고추가루, Korean red chili pepper flakes). Some people simply make this rice cake sauce with gochujang, and some only use gochugaru.
If you don’t like it too spicy, simply use gochujang without any red chili pepper flakes. To make it really spicy, adding more red chili pepper flakes is the way to increase the heat level without altering the saltiness and sweetness.
In this updated recipe, I provided another ratio of gochujang and gochugaru for you to try. It gives a cleaner-tasting spicy kick.
In any case, be aware that the level of spiciness varies widely among different brands of gochujang and gochugaru.
Tteokbokki has continued to evolve over time. Today, people add all sorts of other ingredients such as fishcake, ramen, dumplings, egg, hot dogs, seafood and even cheese.
Here, I kept the recipe simple with eomuk (fish cake), green cabbage, and scallions, which is how we used to eat tteokbokki growing up.
Anchovy broth is typically used for a depth of flavor, but you can simply use water if you like. Gochujang and soy sauce give the dish lots of umami flavors.