Garaetteok Rice Cakes with Simple Sauce
If you are looking for something chewy, filling, and delicious look no further! Korean garaetteok is so far my favorite vegan food that I have discovered in South Korea. Garaetteok is a steamed rice cake that is made from pounding and kneading steamed rice flour. It is common to cover them with honey or simple sauces and eat them on their own and to add them to Korean soups! Their texture and density is very similar to Italian gnocchi. If you like gnocchi you will most definitely LOVE these Korean rice cakes.
A Closer Look…
Garaetteok has become one of my all time favorite dishes because it is super delicious and extremely easy to make! You only need to boil the noodles for a few minutes and then toss them in a very simple sauce!
The Sauce
I tried staying pretty traditional with the sauce while also getting what is accessible at my local Korean market. I used a simple and classic combination of sweet and salty ingredients. These were a vegan Korean hot sauce, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, and brown sugar. Easy peasy! You just mix them all together to create the most delicious and flavor packed sauce for these mild rice cakes.
As for the rice cakes, you can find them at your local Asian market depending on your location, or you can get them on Amazon here. As you may find there are many different types of rice cakes and they all vary slightly in texture and density, and they all have different names!
If you are really interested in Korean or Asian cuisine check out some of my other recipes like my Salty and Savory Simple Vegan Miso (Korean Doenjang). Again, a very simple dish that can be made in 20 minutes or less! I am hoping to post some more traditional dishes soon so stay posted!
Let me know what you think of this Korean Garaetteok recipe in the comments below!
- 12 oz of garaetteok
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1/2 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon hot sauce or paste of choice
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1/2 tablespoon canola oil
1
Bring about 3 cups of water to a boil in a medium pot
2
Add the garaetteok and boil on medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until very tender *
3
In the meantime prepare the sauce by mixing all the ingredients together in a small bowl
4
Heat the canola oil in a small pan and add the boiled garaetteok once the oil is hot
5
After a couple minutes, pour the sauce over the garaetteok and stir with a large spoon until they are all evenly coated
6
Heat for a few more minutes and then serve immediately
*If you get fresh garaetteok you do not have to do this step. If you got them frozen or refrigerated then you will need to boil them to make them tender again.