Read More

The post Decorate Songpyeon for Halloween & Holidays! appeared first on Kimchimari.

Read More

The post How to Make Songpyeon for Chuseok appeared first on Kimchimari.

Read More

The post Tteokbokki – BEST Spicy Korean Rice Cake! (Updated 2023) appeared first on Kimchimari.

Read More

The post Korean Rice Cake Soup – Tteokguk for New Year! appeared first on Kimchimari.

Read More

The post Ssuk Beomul (Korean Mugwort Rice Cake) appeared first on Kimchimari.

What is Injeolmi?

Injeolmi 인절미 is a type of Korean rice cake made with glutinous rice. Traditionally, sweet sticky rice is steamed, then pounded until it becomes a nice blob 😝 with a chewy texture which we call Tteok 떡. This method of making tteok normally takes hours when you include hours of soaking the sweet rice, then steaming and then pounding.

The tteok is then cut into smaller pieces and often coated with either roasted soybean powder 볶은 콩가루 Bokkeun Kongaru, ground black sesame seeds or cooked (unsweetened) Azuki red beans (팥 paat). This rice cake is also eaten without any coating but just by itself, dipped in honey or sugar.

Note, there are 2 different categories of Korean Tteok based on what kind of rice is used. Chapssal Tteok (찹쌀떡) are rice cakes that are made using glutinous/sweet/sticky rice, this includes tteok like Hwajeon 화전, Bukkumi 부꾸미, Kyeongdan 경단, and of course Injeolmi. Maepssal Tteok (멥쌀떡) are made using regular short-grain rice and some common ones are Songpyeon 송편, Sirutteok 시루떡, Hobaktteok 호박떡, Danja 단자, Sultteok 술떡 and more.

The post Injeolmi (Korean Sweet Rice Cake) in 10 minutes appeared first on Kimchimari.

How to Make Rice Flour (Maepssalgaru or tteok ssal garu or ssal garu) for Korean Rice Cakes (Tteok)

I was working on my post for Songypeon recipe yesterday and I realized that if you live outside of Korea, you may have a hard time finding the right kind of rice flour to make the Korean Chuseok Tteok called Songpyeon. Some big Korean stores may sell the special rice flour but that's not always easy to find. So I experimented at home to find the best recipe on how to make rice flour from short grain rice - Maepssalgaru 멥쌀가루 or Ssalgaru 쌀가루 for short. This Korean Rice Flour for Rice Cakes is also sometimes called Tteok Ssal Garu 떡쌀가루 for obvious reasons.

OH! OH! Before I forget, don't forget my Korean Language Book Giveaway! It ends next Monday 16th. Follow me to enter the giveaway - more details in the post.

I know it's kind of confusing but they all refer to the same thing; a rice flour or powder made from soaked short grain rice while it is still wet. NOTE, there's a really confusing thing here. Even I used to get confused before when I didn't know much about making Tteok.

The post How to Make Rice Flour for Rice Cakes (Maepssalgaru for Tteok) appeared first on Kimchimari.

Pan-fried rice cake dumplings (or Bukkumi) originates from Gangwondo province of Korea. They are Sweet Rice Cake dumplings stuffed with sweet fillings and then pan-fried in oil to create a crispy crust with a soft chewy inside.

The dough is either made from sweet rice flour or glutinous sorghum flour. Common fillings are either sweet red beans (danpat 단팥), sweet mung beans (nokdu 녹두) or chestnuts (bam 밤).

Bukkumi made with glutinous sorghum flour (chalsusu garu 찰수수가루) is called Susu Bukkumi (수수부꾸미) which was only seen in Gangwondo but it has become very popular in Seoul nowadays. Honestly, I never heard of Susu Bukkumi until I went to live in Korea recently. Even now, I would say that not many Koreans (especially if you live outside of Korea) still know about this wonderful sweets. Since my return from Korea in 2015, I have been wanting to make this, especially since no store sells them in the bay area.

But before we get into Bukkumi (Pan-fried Rice Cake Dumplings with Sweet Red Beans) recipe, I have to share why I decided to post this recipe.

I already shared in my earlier post that I was contacted by YTV America (a Korean News cable channel in Southern CA) to appear in their upcoming documentary series on Korean Food in America.

MY portion airs this FRIDAY 15th 9:30 PM on YTV!! It will also be online afterwards so I will let you know when that happens.

The post Pan-fried Rice Cake Dumplings with Sweet Red Beans (Bukkumi) appeared first on Kimchimari.

Tteokbokki Recipe with Chili Oil (Gireum Tteokbokki)

A simple Tteokbokki recipe that is made with Spicy Chili Oil instead of gochujang. In Korean, it's called Gireum Tteokbokki. And this is a dish that I have only discovered just very recently while visiting Tongin market in Seoul. Read more about that visit here. Gireum or Kireum Tteokbokki (기름 떡뽁이) means "oil rice cakes"...hmm.. it doesn't sound very appetizing I know but believe me, it is absolutely addicting. This Tteokbokki recipe IS SPICY though, I mean not crazy spicy but definitely spicy enough to give you the happy burning sensation around your lips. :)

Talking about getting addicted to spicy tteokbokki... that reminds me of my Ewha high schools days in the early 80's...

The post Simple Tteokbokki Recipe with Chili Oil (Gireum Tteokbokki) appeared first on Kimchimari.

Injeolmi Toast or Honey Rice Cake Toast Sandwich - I have seen this on the menu in many different Korean cafe's like Cafe Bene and Tom N Toms while I was living in Korea but I never tried it because I didn't think it would be good. Just bread + rice...hmm... But when my niece Heyon made it for me for breakfast during my recent stay in Korea, I was totally surprised how good it was and how easy it was to make. So I decided to share it with you all. Good thing I took pictures while she was making it!

BTW, my niece Heyon is a brilliant artist who just graduated from Chelsea College of Arts in London - visit her website heyoncho.com to see all her work. She describes herself as a 'cartoon, miniature and plaything making art person' . I just find her drawings to have such depth of human emotions that it is just amazing. She has titles such as 'It's OK, Don't be Cry' and 'Talking to myself'.. She also likes to draw dog portraits and here's a 3 piece artwork done for us after our beloved dog Coco passed away in 2013.

The post Injeolmi Toast – Honey Rice Cake Sandwich appeared first on Kimchimari.