Tteokkochi is a sweet and spicy rice cake skewer that is a famous street food in South Korea. It is my ultimate favorite and I’ll show you how to make it at home.
Tteok means rice cake and kkochi means skewer! Rice Cake Skewer has got to be my ultimate favorite out of all my favorite Korean street foods. I remember buying them and just savoring the crispy and chewy rice cakes and wishing the ahjumma would just give me more sauce.
The sauce is a simple concoction of gochujang, sweetener, and other pantry staples. No need to cook, simply slather all that sticky and spicy goodness on the rice cakes.
Here I’ll be teaching you how to make it so you can have this anytime at home and you can experience what I experienced when I was a kid in the streets of Korea! It’s super easy and you can make it in 10 minutes!
Ingredients for Tteokkochi
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Rice Cake
Rice Cakes are cylinder sticks that are chewy and sticky like mochi. They are a little sweet and also bland but they will carry any sauce well. It is an ingredient used in Tteokbokki—spicy, jjajang, or soy-based.
I often get mine at Hmart. It is available fresh or frozen, but more often you’ll be able to find the frozen ones. To use, thaw it in the fridge, get the portion you’ll need, and keep the rest in the freezer. Avoid thawing and refreezing it again and again.
Tteokkochi Sauce
- Red Pepper Paste – This is the main base of the sauce. Red Pepper Paste is a unique Korean condiment that is made from chili powder fermented with rice. It is spicy and savory so we’re going to season it with other condiments to add more flavor.
- Ketchup – For a bit of acidity, you won’t taste the ketchup but it will bring balance to all other ingredients of the sauce.
- Soy Sauce – This will boost the savor and umami of the sauce.
- Garlic – For aroma.
- Sugar and Corn Syrup – This will be for sweetness and to make the sauce sticky so it adheres well to the rice cakes. If you don’t have corn syrup, just add more sugar.
How to Make Crispy Rice Cake Skewers?
Combine the sauce and set aside.
For this recipe, you can make as many skewers as you want so you can prepare as many rice cakes as you want. Just multiply the sauce as needed.
To prepare the rice cakes, boil the rice cakes in water for a minute, then drain, rinse in cold water, and pat dry. Boil only for a minute so it is soft enough but will still hold shape when you skewer it. If you are using fresh rice cakes, you can skip this step.
Stick the rice cakes in a skewer, about 5-6 rice cakes each.
TIP: If you want to take it up a notch, add mini Korean sausage or cocktail hotdogs in between. This is now called “so-tteok so-tteok” which means sausage and rice cakes.
Once done, in a pan with a bit of oil and in low to medium heat, place the skewers in. Allow the rice cakes to crisp up for 1-2 minutes, no need to wait for it to turn golden brown, just crispy is okay! You can do little taps on the rice cake to check.
TIP: Keep the heat low to medium because the rice cakes may pop in high heat.
Once crispy, brush the sauce into the rice cake skewers, garnish with sesame seeds, serve, and enjoy!
Serving and Storage
Some people may not have skewers so they place the sauce directly into the rice cakes. It’s okay to just toss them together, but the classic way is brushing them in the skewered rice cakes.
Only prepare the rice cakes you will consume because once they get cold, they also turn hard. The sauce, however, keeps well in the fridge so you can store any leftovers for up to a week.
Other Korean snacks you might like:
Make sure to leave a rating, a comment, or tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Tiktok when you chop them up! Yeobosayo!
Rice Cake Skewer (Tteokkochi)
Equipment
- Skewers
Ingredients
- Rice Cakes As much as you like (5-6 rice cakes per skewer)
- Sausage or Cocktail Hotdogs Optional
- 1 tbsp Red Pepper Paste
- 2 tbsp Ketchup
- 1/2 tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1/2 tbsp Garlic
- 1 tbsp Sugar
- 2 tbsp Corn Syrup
- Vegetable or Canola Oil For frying
Instructions
- Combine red pepper paste, ketchup, soy sauce, garlic, corn syrup, and sugar.
- Boil the rice cakes in water for a minute, then drain, rinse, and pat dry.
- Stick the rice cakes in a skewer, about 5-6 rice cakes each. You can also skewer rice cakes and mini sausage or cocktail hotdogs alternatively.
- In low to medium heat with a bit of oil in a pan, place the skewers in. Allow to cook for 1-2 minutes until crispy, but not necessarily golden brown. Do little taps to check the crispiness.
- Once crispy, brush the sauce into the rice cakes, garnish with sesame seeds, serve, and enjoy!
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