Tteok

Tteok (Korean: Template:Category handler) is a general term for Korean rice cakes. They are made with steamed flour of various grains, especially glutinous and non-glutinous rice. Steamed flour can also be pounded, shaped, or pan-fried to make tteok. In some cases, tteok is pounded from cooked grains.

Tteok is eaten not only as a dessert or seasonal delicacy, but also as a meal. It can range from elaborate versions made of various colors, fragrances, and shapes using nuts, fruits, flowers, and namul (herbs/wild greens), to plain white rice tteok used in home cooking. Some common ingredients for many kinds of tteok are red bean, soybean, mung bean, mugwort, pumpkin, chestnut, pine nut, jujube, dried fruits, sesame seeds and oil, and honey.

Tteok is usually shared. Tteok offered to spirits is called boktteok ("good fortune rice cake") and shared with neighbours and relatives. It is also one of the celebratory foods used in banquets, rites, and various festive events. Tteokguk ("rice cake soup") is shared to celebrate Korean New Year and songpyeon is shared on Chuseok, a harvest festival.

History

Template:Sidebar with collapsible lists The history of rice cakes goes back to primitive agricultural society. It is presumed that it is because at least about the 7th to 8th centuries B.C., there are records of sowing seeds and plowing and farming in this land, or because almost all of them are found in the ruins like galdol (a flat stone used as a tool when grinding fruit against a grind stone) or dolhwag (a small mortar made of stone) of that period.

The origin of rice cakes began in prehistoric times when the coarse flour obtained from the primitive threshing process of mixed grains was baked or pan-fried without the use of cooking utensils.

Utensils for making tteok

File:Tteoksal (떡살) 01.jpg

Tteoksal

File:절구 (Jeolgu) 01.jpg

Jeolgu

File:Siru (rice cake steamer).jpg

Siru

Below are cooking utensils used to make tteok in the traditional Korean way.

• Ki (Template:Category handler), winnowing basket
• Inambak (Template:Category handler), rice-washing bowl
• Bagaji (Template:Category handler), gourd-like dipper
• Ongbaegi (Template:Category handler) and jabaegi (Template:Category handler), large, round pottery bowls
• Che (Template:Category handler) and chetdari (Template:Category handler), sieve and sieve-frame legs
• Maetdol (Template:Category handler), grinding stone
• Jeolgu (Template:Category handler) and jeolgutgongi (Template:Category handler), mortar and pestle
• Anban (Template:Category handler) and tteokme (Template:Category handler), wooden pounding board and mallet
• Siru (Template:Category handler) and sirumit (Template:Category handler), earthenware steamer and mat placed in the bottom of it
• Sot (Template:Category handler) and geonggeure (Template:Category handler), cauldron and steaming rack
• Beoncheol (Template:Category handler), thick frying pan
• Chaeban (Template:Category handler), wicker tray
• Tteoksal (Template:Category handler), wooden tteok pattern stamp

Types

Tteok is largely divided into four categories: steamed tteok (Template:Category handler), pounded tteok (Template:Category handler), boiled tteok (Template:Category handler) and pan-fried tteok (Template:Category handler). The steamed tteok is made by steaming rice or glutinous rice flour in a siru (Template:Category handler), a large earthenware steamer, so it is often called sirutteok (Template:Category handler). It is regarded as the basic and oldest form of tteok. Pounded tteok is made by using a pounding board or mortar after steaming it first. In making pan-fried tteok, the rice dough is flattened like a pancake and pan-fried with vegetable oil. Shaped tteok are made by kneading dough with hot water, then shaping it into balls.

Steamed tteok

File:Baek-seolgi.jpg

Baekseolgi

File:Sultteok.jpg

Sultteok

The main ingredients for steamed tteok or sirutteok are rice (멥쌀, mebssal in Korean) or glutinous rice (찹쌀 chapssal), and sometimes they are mixed together. In some cases, other grains, beans (azuki beans or mung beans), sesame seeds, wheat flour, or starch are mixed with the rice. Various fruits and nuts are used as subsidiary ingredients, such as persimmons, peaches or apricots, chestnuts, walnuts, and pine nuts. In addition, marinated vegetables or herbs can be used to flavor the tteok. Danggwi leaves (Ostericum grosseserratum), seogi mushroom (manna lichen), radish, artemisia, pepper, and cheongju are the most common flavorings, and honey and sugar are used as sweeteners.

In order to make steamed tteok or sirutteok, rice or glutinous rice is soaked in water for a while, then ground. The prepared rice flour is put in a siru and steamed. According to steaming method, sirutteok is subdivided into two groups: seolgitteok (Template:Category handler), which is shaped into a single large lump, and kyeotteok (Template:Category handler), which consists of multiple layers with adzuki bean powder or other bean powder. Seolgitteok is also called muritteok (Template:Category handler), which is regarded as the most basic form of sirutteok because it is made only of rice. When making kyeotteok, rice and glutinous rice are mixed. The name kyeotteok derives from the adverb kyeokeyo (켜켜, literally "layered") in Korean because this tteok is made in layers.

• Baekseolgi (Template:Category handler) - a variety of sirutteok. It literally means white snow tteok and is made of white rice.
• Kongtteok (Template:Category handler) - tteok made with various kinds of beans
• Jeungpyeon (Korean: Template:Category handler) or sultteok (Korean: Template:Category handler)- tteok made with makgeolli (unfiltered rice wine)
• Mujigae tteok (Template:Category handler) - literally "rainbow tteok"; this variety of tteok has colorful stripes. The tteok is used especially for janchi (Template:Category handler), a Korean banquet, party, or feast such as dol (celebrating a baby's first birthday), Hwangap (celebrating a 60th birthday), or gyeolhon janchi (wedding party)

Pounded tteok

File:가래떡.jpg

Garae-tteok

File:Injeolmi (tteok) (rice cake).jpg

Injeolmi

In traditional preparations, pounded tteok is made by pounding rice or glutinous rice with utensils called jeolgu and jeolgutgongi or tteokme and anban. Injeolmi (tteok coated with adzuki bean powder or roasted soybean powder), garaetteok (가래떡 cylinder-shaped white tteok), jeolpyeon (절편 patterned tteok) and danja (단자 glutinous tteok ball coated with bean paste)" are the most commonly eaten pounded tteok.

Rice and glutinous rice are hulled to make grain particles or powder and then steamed in a siru (earthenware steamer) and pounded with utensils. The pounded tteok is divided by rice type into glutinous pounded tteok (찹쌀도병 chapssal dobyeong) and non-glutinous pounded tteok (맵쌀도병 mapssal dobyeong). Injeolmi, a representative of glutinous pounded tteok, varies in accordance with gomul types (고물, coating made with bean powder, sesame seeds, or sliced jujubes) or subsidiary ingredients mixed into the steamed rice while pounding on the anban. Patinjeolmi (Template:Category handler), and kkaeinjeolmi (Template:Category handler) are examples for the former, coated with red bean powder and sesame, respectively. In ssuk injeolmi (Template:Category handler) and surichwi injeolmi (Template:Category handler), ssuk (Artemisia indica) and surichwi (Synurus deltoides (AIT.) NAKAI) are added.

• Garae-tteok (가래떡; also called huin tteok, 흰떡, literally "white tteok") – tteok formed into a long white cylinder. The thinly sliced garae tteok is used for making tteok guk.
• Omegi tteok (Template:Category handler) – traditional tteok of Jeju Island, the biggest island in Korea

Shaped tteok

• Ggul tteok (Template:Category handler) - literally means "tteok with honey" but the tteok is stuffed with Korean syrup. Ggul tteok is similar to songpyeon in shape, but smaller in size
• Songpyeon (Template:Category handler) - eaten during Chuseok holiday (Template:Category handler), Korean thanksgiving day
• Gochitteok (Template:Category handler)
• Ssamtteok (Template:Category handler) - tteok used for ssam (쌈, food wrapped in a leaf)
• Dalgal tteok (Template:Category handler) - named after dalgal (달걀 or 계란 egg)
• Gyeongdan - Inside these rice balls are usually red bean or sesame paste. The balls are usually dipped and covered in black sesame or other powders.
• Bupyeon, consisting of dough made of glutinous rice flour with a sweet filling and coated in gomul (powdered beans).

Pan-fried tteok

• Hwajeon - small, sweet pancakes made of flour of glutinous rice and decorated with flower petals of the Korean azalea, chrysanthemum, or rose.
• Bukkumi (Template:Category handler), pan-fried sweet tteok with various fillings in a crescent shape
• Juak (Template:Category handler), made of glutinous rice flour and stuffed with fillings such as mushrooms, jujubes, and chestnuts, and pan-fried. Juak are colored with natural coloring and covered with sugar or coated in honey.

Other varieties

• Ssuk tteok (Template:Category handler)
• Gaksaek pyeon (Template:Category handler)

Gallery

• Tteokbokki
  Tteokbokki
• Kkul-tteok
  Kkul-tteok
• Injeolmi
  Injeolmi
• Siru in front and other onggi (generic term for earthenware)
  Siru in front and other onggi (generic term for earthenware)
• Pounding tteok
  Pounding tteok
• Pat sirutteok, steamed sirutteok topped with red beans
  Pat sirutteok, steamed sirutteok topped with red beans
• Hobak seolgitteok, steamed seolgitteok made with pumpkins
  Hobak seolgitteok, steamed seolgitteok made with pumpkins
• Sultteok
  Sultteok
• Rice cake ball
  Rice cake ball

Dishes made with tteok

• Tteok guk
• Tteokbokki
• Tteok-kkochi

See also

• Nian gao, similar Chinese category
• Korean cuisine
• List of Korean desserts
• List of steamed foods
• Template:Portal-inline

External links

• Information about Tteok from lifeinkorea.com
• Information about Dano and Korean desserts
• Video about Tteok
• Template:In lang General information, origin and recipe of Tteok from Tteok & Kitchen Utensil Museum
• Template:In lang Information about and recipe for Tteok