Royal Court Tteokbokki is the original rice cake dish meant to be served to the kings. It is a mix of beef, vegetables, and rice cakes sauteed in a sweet and savory sauce!
Gunjung Tteokbokki which literally means Royal Court Rice Cakes is the traditional way of making “tteokbokki”. Before the famous spicy street food we know now, the original rice cake dish was part of the royal cuisine and it was meant to help kings gain an appetite.
With soy sauce and sesame oil as the base of the sauce, this royal court rice cake recipe yields a savory, smoky, and sweet dish that is highly addicting! It’s very close to the taste of japchae, which I know a lot of people love too! If your mouth is watering already, then let’s get started!
Ingredients for Royal Court Tteokbokki
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Rice Cakes
Rice Cakes are made from glutinous rice flour. It is a bit flavorless and a bit sweet, but it mainly carries any sauce you cook it with. This is commonly cooked in savory side dishes as a thickener and an additional chewy vessel to the sauces.
They come in several sizes. If you find fresh ones in your local Korean markets, they are usually long cylinders that are either slender or a bit thick. Either way, you can chop them to the size that you like for this dish.
On the other hand, it is more common to find frozen rice cakes in 3-inch cylinder sticks, which are commonly used for spicy tteokbokki, or in coin shapes, which are commonly used in rice cake soup. Either shape is okay to use in this recipe!
If you ever get these, make sure to keep it frozen until it’s ready to use. Otherwise, it might break if its temperature keeps changing. Thaw only when you’re about to cook it.
Beef
For this recipe, the main protein we will use is beef. You can use any cut like ribs trimmings, loin, or flank. Just use a small amount that you can chop into bite-size pieces so that it’s easy to cook and can be evenly mixed throughout the dish.
If you want the dish to be vegetarian, you can simply skip the meat and add more vegetables as you like.
Vegetables
One of the highlights of this dish is the variety of vegetables mixed in it. I used green peppers, red peppers, onions, carrots, oyster mushrooms, and enoki mushrooms—very similar to what we use in japchae!
Nevertheless, you can use any vegetables you like. Just take note that you only need 200 grams of veggies in total for the recipe and you need to slice them julienne so that you can scoop it all together with your chopsticks. Double or triple the amount of the ingredients you need!
Gunjung Tteokbokki Sauce
The components of the sauce are common pantry ingredients you may already have. We’ll use soy sauce and oyster sauce for the savory umami, sesame oil for the smoky and nutty flavors, sugar or honey for the balance of flavor, then garlic and pepper for the contrasting spice and aroma.
Did you know? Because of the sauce base, this dish is also sometimes called “ganjang tteokbokki” or soy sauce rice cakes.
How to make Royal Court Tteokbokki?
First, prepare our ingredients: Chop up the vegetable julienne; Chop the beef into bitesize pieces then marinate it in soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, and black pepper. Set them aside.
Following that, prepare the rice cakes by boiling them until they are soft enough to pinch, but don’t break. Once soft, wash and drain them, then marinate them with soy sauce and sesame oil.
TIP: Marinating the meat and the rice cakes ensures that the flavors on them are through and through.
In high heat and a bit of oil, saute the beef until 50% cooked. Add the vegetables gradually and saute them well. Once the veggies are cooked but still firm, add the rice cakes and the sauce ingredients and mix thoroughly. This should take no more than 15 minutes to cook! Super easy and a delicious snack!
Serving Instructions
Make sure to serve this tteokbokki immediately. It is best when fresh and hot and the rice cakes are still chewy. As it cools down, or even when you store leftovers, they will eventually harden. You would need to add a bit of water and saute this again if you wish to reheat it.
Gunjung Tteokbokki is a delicious snack you can quickly have any time, however, this is also a special and colorful dish we like to serve on special occasions like Chuseok or Lunar New Year!
Some people may not be able to try the famous spicy tteokbokki, but this dish is definitely great for kids, non-spicy lovers, and vegetarians! Much like how it satisfied the kings in the past, this will satisfy everyone!
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!
Royal Court Rice Cakes (Gunjung Tteokbokki)
Ingredients
- Vegetable or Canola Oil For sauteing
Vegetables
- 1/4 of Whole Red Pepper Julienne
- 1/4 of Whole Green Pepper Julienne
- 1/4 of Whole Onion Julienne
- 1/4 of Whole Carrot Chop to matchstick sizes
- 2 pcs Oyster Mushroom Sliced
- 50 grams Enoki Mushrooms
Beef Marinade
- 100 grams Any cut beef Chopped to bitesize pieces
- 1/2 tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1/2 tbsp Sesame Oil
- 1/4 tbsp Minced Garlic
- Black Pepper
Rice Cake Marinate
- 300 grams Rice Cake
- 2 cup Water
- 1 tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1 tbsp Sesame Oil
Royal Court Tteokbokki Sauce
- 1/2 tbsp Garlic
- 1 tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1/2 tbsp Oyster Sauce
- 1 1/2 tbsp Sugar or Honey
- Black Pepper
- Sesame Seeds
Instructions
- Prepare the vegetables by chopping them julienne. Set aside.
- Marinate the beef with soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, and black pepper. Set aside.
- Boil the rice cakes until soft and easy to pinch but do not break. Drain and rinse it in cold water then marinate with soy sauce and sesame oil.
- In high heat, saute the marinated beef. When 50% done, add onion, carrots, and garlic, then continue sauteing.
- Add oyster mushroom, enoki mushroom, and pepper, then continue sauteing.
- Add the rice cakes and season with soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, and black pepper. Mix thoroughly until everything is well coated.
- Serve immediately and enjoy!
Looks delicious! We will be in Seoul next month. Any restaurant you recommend which offer Gunjung Tteokbokki?
thanks!
Hmm I’m not familiar of restaurants that offer this because Royal Tteokbokki is often cooked at home during special occasions~
This was so delicious! I love tteokbokki but at 80 years old the heat gives me indigestion so I stopped eating them, not really crazy about rose style (although a Korean food truck did make them using Mac and cheese sauce).But the mixture of meat, veg and rice cakes (I used the flat ones)was wonderful! Thank you so much for sharing this great recipe.
Wow! I am so honored to know that you’re looking at my recipes and trying them out! I’m so glad you enjoy this!