Tteokbokki.

The Korean street food. Sweet, spicy, chewy, glossy. The whole thing is a sauce — get the ratio right, the rest is just timing.

Use wheat-flour rice cakes (밀떡) — they hold the sauce better than rice-flour cakes (쌀떡). Triangle-shape, palm-length. Yumi Hana carries them.

Ingredients

The sauce — mix in a small bowl

• 4 tbsp gochugaru (Korean chili flakes)
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp gochujang (Korean chili paste)
• 2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• pinch of black pepper

For the pan

• 300g wheat-flour rice cakes (밀떡, soaked 10 min if dried)
• 2 spring onions, cut into 5cm batons
• 100g eomuk (어묵, Korean fish cakes), sliced
• 1 cup water (or beef broth — about 1 ramen-pack worth)
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• ⅓ tbsp salt

Method

1. Mix the 4-3-2·2·2 sauce. Whisk it together in a small bowl. Set aside.
2. Layer the pan, cold. Spring onions and eomuk on the bottom of a wide pan.
3. Add water + aromatics. Pour in water (or broth — slightly more than plain water, since the rice cakes drink it up). Add 1 tbsp sugar, ⅓ tbsp salt, 1 tbsp minced garlic.
4. Heat gently — 1 minute to let the aromatics open up.
5. Pour in the 4-3-2·2·2 sauce. Stir until the pan looks glossy and red. Bring to a boil — about 3 minutes.
6. Drop to medium heat. Add the rice cakes. Cover the lid.
7. Wait at least 4 minutes — low heat. Don't peek too early. The color deepens to a rich amber-red. That's the cue.
8. Plate and serve immediately. A boiled egg cut in half on top is the classic move.

Tip · the 4-3-2·2·2 trick

Once you know 4-3-2·2·2, you can scale this for one or four. Keep the ratio. The "2·2·2" tail is the shortcut: equal parts soy sauce, gochujang, oyster sauce — three flavors at the same scoop. Chef Ryu literally repeats "2개, 2개, 2개" in the video — that's the cue.

Tip · wheat vs rice cakes

Wheat-flour rice cakes (밀떡) stay chewy in sauce. Rice-flour cakes (쌀떡) get soft fast. For tteokbokki, always wheat.

Tip · don't rush the simmer

The flavor is built in those 4 covered minutes. Open the lid too early and you get raw gochugaru. Wait it out.