Tteokguk

Tteokguk
Korean name
Hangul	떡국
Revised Romanization	tteokguk
McCune–Reischauer	ttŏkkuk

Tteokguk is a traditional Korean dish eaten during the celebration of the Korean New Year. The dish consists of the broth/soup (guk) within which is placed several thinly sliced rice cakes (tteok). It is a tradition to eat tteokguk on New Years because it is believed to grant the consumer luck for the forthcoming year and for him or her to supposedly gain an additional year of life. Additional ingredients are usually added to the dish; these include thinly sliced cooked eggs, marinated meat, mandu, and/or dried seaweed for seasoning.

Overview

Tteokguk is also called byeongtang. The dish was served on New Year's Day. Eating one bowl of tteokguk in the morning of New Year's Day means that you get one year older.

Beef brisket is boiled for hours and the stock is strained to clarify the broth. Long rice cake sticks are thin-sliced diagonally and boiled in the clear beef broth.^[1]

Custom

Tteokguk is served traditionally during the Korean New Year celebration, Seollal. It is a time for the family to get together and celebrate the coming of the new year. It is a tradition for older adults to give blessings, usually in the form of money, to the children of the family to wish them the best in the coming year. In exchange, the children perform a ceremonial traditional bow of respect, called sebae, to their elders and offer their blessings to the adults. The children usually say, "saehae bokmani badeuseyo (새해 복 많이 받으세요)." to wish prosperity and good fortune to the adults and show them respect. It is also a tradition to wear the hanbok during New Years.

Ingredients

• 1 gallon water
• 2 ½ pounds flank steak
• 1 white onion, halved
• 3 green onions, cut in 3-inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons toasted ground sesame seed*
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 7 tablespoons Korean soup soy sauce, divided*
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1/3 cup sliced green onion
• Conservative sprinkling of Dashida (beef soup stock)

^{[2] [3]}

See also

• Tteok
• Korean cuisine
• Zōni, a similar soup eaten in Japan on New Year's Day

References

1. ^ Tour2Korea.com Tteokguk
2. ^ Seattle Times, Recipe: Tteokguk (Sliced Rice Pasta Soup)
3. ^ http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200702/200702140008.html

External links

• A Personal Account [1]
• Further Detail [2]
• (Korean)설날에 떡국을 먹는 이유는? □□□ 때문이다 at Yeongnam Ilbo