Tteokbokki: History, Ingredients, and Varieties of Korean Rice Cakes

Tteokbokki is a Korean food prepared from small cylinder-shaped rice cakes called tteokmyeon or tteokbokki-tteok. The food is frequently prepared with fish cakes, boiled eggs, and scallions in a spicy gochujang sauce. Diners commonly purchase and eat it at snack bars known as bunsikjip and street stalls called pojangmacha. At home, pre-packaged semi-dehydrated garae-tteok allows people to prepare it easily.

Historical records and non-spicy preparations

The earliest written record of tteokbokki appears in Siuijeonseo, a 19th-century cookbook, under the archaic spelling steokbokgi. Historical names for the dish in Siuijeonseo included tteokjjim, tteok-japchae, and tteok-jeongol. The royal court version incorporated white rice cakes, sirloin, sesame oil, soy sauce, scallions, rock tripe, pine nuts, and sesame seeds.

A savory soy sauce-based version made with short ribs was prepared in the head house of the Papyeong Yun clan. Gungjung-tteokbokki dates back to royal court cooking before chili peppers were introduced in the 17th and 18th centuries. Modern gungjung-tteokbokki commonly incorporates mung bean sprouts, carrots, onions, dried zucchini, garlic, and shiitake mushrooms.

Development of spicy gochujang tteokbokki

The spicy variant seasoned with gochujang first appeared in 1953 through Ma Bok-rim. She conceived seasoning rice cakes with gochujang after accidentally dropping rice cake into jajangmyeon, selling it in Sindang. From the 1950s, the wide distribution of imported wheat flour in South Korea led to wheat flour cakes being used as an inexpensive alternative.

During the 1970s, the spicy preparation became widely popular as an affordable snack. In the 1970s, the Sindang-dong tteokbokki alley gained nationwide recognition after being featured on an MBC radio program. Wheat rice cakes create a thicker sauce broth, while rice cakes maintain chewy elasticity even during prolonged boiling.

Dining formats and table styles

Snack stall diners often coat deep-fried items in tteokbokki sauce or eat the dish accompanied by gimbap and sundae. Beyond street counters, jeukseok-tteokbokki is a hot pot style boiled on a tabletop stove during the meal with additions like vegetables, dumplings, and noodles. Because table-cooked jeukseok-tteokbokki is treated as a meal, it is frequently accompanied by fried rice cooked in the pan.

Variations and sauce adaptations

• Gungmul-tteokbokki: kelp-anchovy stock provides savory depth, with chili powder added for heat and rice syrup for sweetness.
• Gireum-tteokbokki: gochujang is replaced by a seasoning blend of chili powder, soy sauce, sugar or syrup, and sesame oil; Tongin Market in Jongno, Seoul is renowned for this oil-fried version.
• Rabokki and jjolbokki: rabokki adds instant ramyeon noodles, while jjolbokki adds chewy jjolmyeon wheat noodles.
• Galbi-tteokbokki and haemul-tteokbokki: galbi-tteokbokki features short ribs, while haemul-tteokbokki incorporates seafood as a secondary ingredient.
• Cream sauce and rosé variants: cream sauce tteokbokki takes inspiration from carbonara, using cream sauce and bacon in place of gochujang and fish cakes; rosé tteokbokki mixes milk, cream, or cheese into red sauce to give a milder flavor and light orange color.
• Mala and cheese variants: mala tteokbokki is inspired by malatang, adding mala sauce, wide glass noodles, and bok choy; cheese tteokbokki is topped or stuffed with cheese and can be seasoned with green tea powder, herb powder, sesame, or parsley.
• Gyeran-tteokbokki: a non-spicy preparation made without sauce, using only rice cakes, eggs, vegetables, and salt.