Tteokbokki & Rice Cakes

Tteokbokki is Korean rice cakes in a sweet, hot chilli sauce, and the best-known street food from Seoul. We have both ready-made cups that take five minutes and rice cakes in packets for anyone who wants to make the sauce themselves.

Topokki or tteokbokki?

Both spellings are used for the same dish. Tteokbokki is the official transliteration from Korean, while topokki is how it is pronounced and how it appears on the packets from Yopokki, the brand we sell most of. If you are looking for topokki, this is the page you want.

Ready-made cups and bowls

Yopokki supply the rice cakes and the sauce in the same pack. You add water, heat it in the microwave or a pan, and have food in a few minutes. Sweet and spicy is the original. Cheese is the mildest and the one most children like. Carbonara is creamy and barely hot at all, and jjajang is made with black bean paste and tastes more salty than hot.

Rice cakes in packets

If you want to make the dish from scratch, buy the rice cakes separately and make the sauce from gochujang, sugar, soy and a little stock. You then decide the strength yourself, and you can add fish cakes, boiled egg and spring onion. Packet rice cakes are often vacuum packed and should go in lukewarm water for ten minutes before use if they have stiffened.

How to stop them turning chewy

The rice cakes should simmer in the sauce until they are soft all the way through, ideally five to eight minutes. If they are left standing after the meal they harden quickly. Reheat them with a splash of water in the pan, not in the microwave alone.

Questions and answers

How hot is tteokbokki?
The original sweet and spicy is noticeably hot, but more sweet than burning. Cheese and carbonara are mild and suit most people.

Is it gluten-free?
The rice cakes are made from rice, but the sauce often contains wheat. Check the ingredient list on the individual item.

What do I serve with it?
Kimchi, Korean fish cakes and a boiled egg are the usual. See also noodles and Asian sauces.