The history and ideals of a civilisation can be gleaned from its food. Many Koreans eat tteok or Korean rice cake, as a meal, dessert, or seasonal treat. Several kinds of tteok are served for various events, such as weddings, ancestral ceremonies, national holidays, and more.
Like noodles and kimchi, many types of tteok can be divided into groups based on the components or preparation method. Rice is not the only component used to make tteok, even though it is sometimes translated as rice cake.
Most grains can be used to make it, but glutinous and non-glutinous rice are the most popular choices. Depending on the situation, additional ingredients can be added to improve the flavour too. Tteok can be broadly categorised into seven types, read more!
Sirutteok
Rice is the primary component of sirutteok. The rice is ground into fine rice flour before adding water to make a dough-like mixture. You can also use other components like cereals, nuts, seeds, and/or sweet red beans. Before the rice flour mixture is steamed, the other ingredients are added in layers after cleaning. For sharing, this type of tteok is typically chopped into rectangular pieces, resembling a lasagna. When you bite into it, it feels soft, giving it a distinctive texture.
Jeolpyeon
To make jeolpyeon, steaming rice is often pounded until the texture is smooth and elastic. It is possible to incorporate other ingredients while the rice is boiling, while it is being pounded, or after the pounding to purposefully create more texture. Occasionally, wooden trays or stamps are used to shape this specific variety of rice cake.
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Garaetteok
The pounded tteok, known as garaetteok mixed further with other ingredients is also popular. Water and non-glutinous rice flour are cooked to make garaetteok. Historically, it was rolled into long, cylindrical forms. These days, a machine is used to pound and extrude the rice cake. The final product is either thinly sliced to make tteokguk. It is made as a rice cake soup that is typically consumed on Seollal, the Korean Lunar New Year, or chopped into inch-long pieces to be used in the famous Korean street snack, tteokbbokki.
Hwajeon
Pan-friend Teok “Hwajeon” is translated as pancakes with flowers. Made with glutinous rice flour, water, and sugar, the sweet, bite-sized spring delights are pan-fried and adorned with edible flowers like rose petals, chrysanthemums, or Korean azalea. It is a seasonal snack but can be made at home anytime with availability of ingredients.
Gyeongdan
These round, bite-sized delicacies were frequently served and eaten at festive occasions like weddings and first birthdays. Before being boiled, a mixture mostly composed of glutinous rice flour or glutinous sorghum flour is formed into tiny balls. Then, different ingredients like honey, crushed beans or nuts, or cinnamon powder are added all over the boiling rice cakes. The tiny rice cake balls are adorned with various vibrant components to exude style and happiness at a celebration.
Chapssaltteok
A South Korean chapssaltteok is created with red bean paste and sticky rice. Some people also call chapssaltteok because it is extremely similar to the Japanese dish mochi, which means rice cake. It is a popular treat to make at home, especially for kids, and is distinguished by its dense, chewy texture.As matcha green tea powder is used, the Korean variant is often green on the outside. Students who have a big test are occasionally given chapssaltteok, hoping it will help them do well.
Mujigae-tteok
Mujigae-tteok, also known as rainbow rice cake. It is a multi-layered rice cake with a rainbow-like appearance.[ It is utilised for major events, including feasts, parties, and banquets, such as hwangapjanchi (60th birthday) and doljanchi (first birthday). Due to food colouring, mujigae-tteok differs from other types of tteok, including white baek-seolgi. To make it, sweetened, non-glutinous rice flour is steamed in a siru (steamer). Soaked rice is ground and then combined with sugar or honey to make sweetened rice flour. After that, coloured and uncoloured rice flour is spread out in layers roughly thick on a cloth-lined siru and steam-cooked.