4.9 from 129 votes
Tteok Mandu Guk (Rice Cake Soup with Dumplings)
Tteok Mandu Guk is a comforting Korean soup featuring tender beef broth simmered with savory rice cakes and dumplings. The beef is sautéed to brown and then simmered in water to form a rich base, which is infused with garlic and seasoned soy sauce. Soaked rice cakes and dumplings are cooked just until soft and tender.
Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
20 mins
Total Time
30 mins
Servings:
2
Course:
Main Course, Soup
Cuisine:
Korean
Ingredients
- 4 ounces beef chuck or loin
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce soup type
- 1 teaspoon garlic minced
- salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
- 1 scallion
- 2 to 3 cups rice cakes Soak in cold water for 10 to 20 min if hardened, sliced, tteokguk tteok (떡국떡
- 8 to 10 dumplings mandu
Optional Garnish
- 1 egg
- 1/2 gim nori sheet, cut into thin strips
Instructions
- Cut the beef into thin bite size pieces (1 to 1 1/2 inch).
- In a medium pot, sauté the beef with 1 tablespoon of soup soy sauce until all the pieces turn brown. Pour in 5 cups of water and bring it to a boil. Skim off the foam. Reduce the heat to medium and continue to boil, covered, for 10 minutes.
- You can add the dumplings to the soup along with rice cakes in the next step. Another option is to cook the dumplings separately in the boiling water until the dumplings float to the top, and then add to the soup when the rice cakes are cooked. Or, line a steamer with a wet cheesecloth and then steam mandu for about 8 minutes (10 minutes if frozen).
- Add the garlic and the rice cake slices to the boiling broth. Boil until the rice cakes turn very soft, usually about 5 – 8 minutes.
- Drop the cooked dumplings and the scallion to the soup. Let the soup come to a boil again. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Ladle the steaming soup into individual bowls and garnish with the optional egg and gim strips.
Cup of Yum
Optional garnish
- To make egg garnish (jidan), separate the egg white and yolk. Lightly beat the white by gently cutting it with a spoon. Stir the yolk with a spoon until smooth. Heat a lightly oiled nonstick skillet over medium low heat. Pour each egg part into a thin layer, by tilting the skillet and/or spreading with a spoon. Cook each side briefly. (Do not brown the egg.)
- Roll each egg crepe, and slice into short thin strips. Slice the scallion diagonally into thin strips. Roast the gim on a hot skillet. Cut into thin 1 1/2-inch strips with kitchen shears, or simply crush them with hands.