A comfort staple to millions of people in South Korea—including BTS’s Suga and Twice’s Jeongyeon—tteokbokki, or tteok jimbang (stir fried rice cakes), is gaining traction in the United States. Pre-packaged versions of the food are popping up at national wholesalers like Costco, online sales are soaring and tteokbokki-specific restaurants are opening around the country. It’s a moment that comes thanks to a confluence of Korean popular culture and accessibility.떡볶이창업프랜차이즈
The dish is easy to make and can be customized with a variety of ingredients, including eggs, seafood, beef, vegetables, instant ramen noodles and even rice paper. It’s a meal that’s often shared between friends and family, making it the perfect snack or quick lunch.
It’s also a dish that’s steeped in culture and history. Tteokbokki originated in palace kitchens during the Joseon Dynasty. It was once reserved for royalty only but it became more affordable during the 1950s as a result of surplus flour sent from America after the Korean War. It eventually made its way into the streets where it became a beloved street food that was enjoyed by all, not only the upper classes.
Tteokbokki is known for its gochujang-based sauce that adds a punch of spice and umami to the chewy, soft rice cakes. This spicy version of the dish is so popular that it spawned an entire district in Seoul called Sindang-dong, where many tteokbokki eateries are located.
Various fusions and adaptations of the dish have also developed. Haemul-tteokbokki, or seafood tteokbokki, has the addition of boiled egg and pan-fried mandu (dumplings). Galbi-tteokbokki or short rib tteokbokki is an example of a meat-based variant of the dish. Ra-bokki, or ramyeon tteokbokki, and jjolbokki, or chewy noodle tteokbokki, are variations that add a layer of texture to the dish.
While tteokbokki has become a street food staple, the restaurant industry is still evolving and there are countless new creations to be discovered. The latest trend is tteokbokki with unconventional sauces such as rose and carbonara, and different rice cake shapes. Some are short like gnocchi while others are long and skinny. One of the more creative tteokbokki restaurants is Yup Dduk in Los Angeles that allows guests to customize their own bowls of tteokbokki by choosing from a buffet of ingredients such as sweet potato, wheat and corn, all of which are produced in Korea. The ingredients are then stirred and smothered in sauces that range from sweet to spicy, with some boasting heat levels that rival the scorchingly hot cheongyang pepper, which has more than 10,000 Scoville heat units.
For those who can’t get enough of the dish, there are also tteokbokki kits available online and in stores such as Amazon, allowing consumers to make their own at home. Little Banchan Shop in Manhattan sells packaged tteokbokki to take the hassle out of cooking it from scratch, and the food can be easily found at Korean grocery stores in the US.청년다방