Rice Cake Soup -- 떡국

Rice Cake Soup

Introduction
Ttteokguk ia a tradisional Korean dish eaten during the celebration of the Korean New Year. The dish consist of the broth/soup (guk) with thinly sliced rice cakes (tteok - it can be called a kind of rice pasta). It is tradition to eat tteoguk on New Year's Day because it is believed to grant the consumer luck for the forthcoming year and gain an additional year of life. It is usually garnished with thin julienned cooked egg, marinated meat and gim.
History
The origin of eating tteokguk on New Year's Day is unknown. However, tteokguk is mentioned in the 19th century book of customs Dongguksesigi (동국세시기, 東國歲時記) as being made with beef or pheasant used as the main ingredient for the broth, and pepper added as seasoning. The book also mentions the custom of having a bowl of tteokguk in the morning of New Year's Day to get a year older, and the custom of saying "How many bowls of tteokguk have you eaten?" to ask a person's age.
In the book The Custom of Joseon written in 1946 by historian Cheo Nam-seon, the New Year custom of eating tteokguk is speculated as being originated from ancient times. The white tteok signifying purity and cleanliness would be eaten as a ritual to start off the New Year for good fortune. 
Although tteokguk is traditionally a seasonal dish, it is now eaten at all times of the year.     
Ingredients

sliced rice cake

Sliced rice cake, beef brisket, garlic, fish sauce, green onion, eggs, kim (seaweed), sesame oil, black ground pepper.
Directions

1. Boil 8 cups of water in a pot.
2. Soak 3 cups of slice rice cake in cold water.
3. Chop 100 grams (about 1 -1.5 cup) of beef brisket into small pieces.
4. Prepare 3 eggs in 2 small bowls. In the first bowl, put 2 egg yolk; in the second bowl, put 2 egg white and 1 egg. Add a pinch of salt to each bowl and mix well.

While you're waiting fpr the water to boil, you can make your garnishes, starting with gyeran noreunja jidan
(thin egg yolk strips):

1. Heat up a non-stick pan. Let it get really hot. Add a few drops of vegetable oil, and wipe off the excess hot oil with a paper towel.
2. Turn the heat off. Pour the egg yolk mixture from the "bowl 1" above into the pan and spread it thinly. You want to make a thin yellow paper out of the egg by tilting the pan.
3. When it's cooked about 70%, turn it over and let it sit on the pan to cook the other side.
4. slice it thinly and set it aside.

Now let's make kimgaru (seaweed powder). This one is easy:

1. Roast a sheet of seaweed (kim) directly on the stove top. Both sides of the seaweed should be roasted so that it can be crushed easily.
2. Put the roasted seaweed into a plastic bag and crush it! Then set it aside.

Good work! Now let's get back to the soup:

Beef broth

1. When the water boils, put in the beef. Boil over low medium heat for 20-30 minutes.
2. Open the lid and add 1 clove of minced garlic, 2 tbs of fish sauce. *tip: the water will boil off but you want to keep it at 6 cups. You can add more water as you need it.
3. Drain the rice cake slices and put them into boiling beef soup. Close the lid
4. A few minutes later, open the lid to check if rice cake slices are floating on the surface. You can taste a sample now.
5. Pour in the egg mix from "bowl 2"  above. a little at a time. *tip: Don't stir it until the egg mixture is cooked a little in the broth.
6. Chop some green onion and add it to the pot.
7. Turn off the heat and drizzle some sesame oil and grind a little black pepper.
8. Transfer the rice cake soup to the serving bowls. Garnish with the roasted seaweed powder and the thin egg yolk strips

Serve it hot!

Here's a video tutorial to make 떡국



Video tutorial to make Vegetarian Rice Cake Soup

Source: Wikipedia, Maangchi