“Tteokjjim” is a dish of rice cakes, beef and vegetables braised with seasonings. It is said that in the olden days, the court kitchen ladies prepared tteokjjim for the king, who lacked physical exercise and sometimes suffered from indigestion, because it was thought to ease stomach troubles.

Ingredients

● 300 g bar of white rice cake, sesame soy sauce: 1/2 tsp soy sauce, 1 tsp sesame oil

● 40 g beef (top round)

● 100 g beef (shank), 4 cups water

● seasoning sauce ①: 1 tsp soy sauce, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp, minced green onion, 1/4 tsp minced garlic, 1/2 tsp sesame salt, 0.1 g ground black pepper, 1 tsp sesame oil

● 60g carrot, 2 cups water, 1/4 tsp salt

● 4 ea chestnut, 1 sheet brown oak mushrooms

● 1 tsp pine nuts, 4 ea jujube, 12 ea gingko

● 1 ea egg, 15 g watercress, 1 tsp wheat flour, 1 tsp edible oil

● seasoning sauce ②: 1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp sugar, 1/2 tbsp minced green onion, 1 tsp minced garlic, 1 tsp sesame salt, 1/2 tbsp sesame oil

Cut the white rice cake into 6 cm long pieces, and put four deep slits in each, taking care not to cut all the way through. Season with sesame soy sauce.

Clean the beef, mince finely and season with half of seasoning sauce ①.

Cut the carrot into 2.5 cm squares and trim the edges. Skin the chestnuts. Stir-fry the gingko and skin. Soak brown oak mushrooms in water for about an hour, remove stems, wipe dry and cut it into 2-4 pieces.

Remove tops of the pine nuts, wipe the nuts clean with a dry cloth. Clean the jujube, cut the flesh and roll up.

Fry the egg for a yellow and white garnish. Fry watercress after coating with wheat flour and beaten egg, then cut into 2 cm pieces.

Insert the seasoned beef into the slits of the rice cakes.

Put the shank and water in the pot and put on high heat. When it boils, reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 30 min. Take out the meat and cut into thin 2 cm slices. Mix with the remaining half of the seasoning sauce ①. Strain the broth through a cotton cloth.

Pour water in the pot and heat it up for 2 min on high heat. When it boils, add salt and scald the carrot for 2 min.

Put the shank, carrot, chestnuts, brown oak mushrooms, broth and half of the seasoning sauce ② in the pot. Boil it for 5 min on high heat, add the rice cakes, jujube and remainder of seasoning sauce ②, reduce the heat to medium and boil for 13 minutes. Add the gingko and pine nuts.

Place in a dish, garnish with strips of egg and fried watercress.

Tips

● If the rice cake has dried hard, scald it in boiled water to soften it.

● Do not put the rice cakes in the pot from the beginning, or they may disintegrate.

(Adapted from the Institute of Traditional Korean Food)