Tteokguk
| Korean spelling | |
|---|---|
| Korean alphabet : | 떡국 |
| Revised Romanization : | tteokguk |
| McCune-Reischauer : | ttŏkkuk |
Tteokguk ( Korean : 떡국 ) is a Korean rice cake soup. It is traditionally served on Seollal ( 설날 ), the Korean New Year celebrations .
Name composition
The first syllable of the word Tteok ( 떡 ) means rice cake and the second syllable Guk ( 국 ) means soup.
Tradition and belief
The food of the Tteokguk is traditionally associated with Seollal, the Korean New Year celebrations. The main ingredient of the soup is the rice cake cut into oval slices. The shape of the discs symbolizes on the one hand the desire for a long life and on the other hand, following the imagination like coins, the desire for fortune and prosperity. When you eat the soup you hope for a Happy New Year and believe, according to the Korean age counting, that you will have become a year older that day by consuming the soup.
Manufacturing
The rice cake for the soup is made from glutinous rice flour. For this purpose, glutinous rice ground to a fine powder is mixed with hot water and kneaded into a dough, which is then brought into a cylindrical shape. Today you no longer make the rice cake in this form yourself, but buy the rice cake called Garaetteok ( 가래떡 ) in the supermarket.
For the soup, which consists of a meat broth, garaetteok is cut diagonally to create oval slices. These are added to the boiling meat broth along with strips of beef, onions, garlic, and spring onions. The soup is seasoned with soy oil, salt and pepper and, before serving , garnished with strips of beef, egg, spring onions and gim (dried seaweed ). The addition of mandu , a filled dumpling pocket, is also popular .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Tteokguk (Korean Rice Cake Soup) . Korean Bapsang , January 2, 2013, accessed February 23, 2015 .
- ^ Lunar New Years Tteokguk . The Korea Times , January 22, 2009, accessed February 23, 2015 .