Banana Tteok. Lately, Katie has been craving Afternoon Tea. Yes, the British kind! You know, the ones with the fancy cookies and cakes, stacked on a 3-tier platter. I’ve never had it before… so I don’t know how to make the whole setup. I told Katie that we could grab some herbal tea instead and re-create something similar at home, Korean style! She didn’t share my enthusiasm… 🤣
In my efforts to persuade Katie out of dragging me to High Afternoon Tea at Four Seasons Seoul (which was way overpriced 🤯), I promised to make homemade Tteok! She didn’t believe that I would go through the cumbersome process of making rice-cakes at home and gladly accepted the deal. However, she underestimated my desire to stay at home… 😛
So I decided to get creative and make Banana Tteok. It doesn’t require much – just some glutinous rice powder and bananas. When we started, I could see the skepticism in Katie’s face! But as we rolled the dough into little balls, while listening to Christmas tunes, it started to get us into the Holiday spirits. A little dance here, a little flour there. Soon enough, we had all of our delicious Tteok finished. Best of all, they tasted incredible! Sticky on the outside, creamy banana filling on the inside and sweet cake crumbles on the outside. As Katie pointed out before devouring them, they’re so “precious”…
Enjoy guys and Happy Holidays!! 🎄 ☃️ 😝
Banana Tteok (Korean Rice Cakes)
Ingredients
- Ripe Bananas - 3 whole use 2 for the dough
- Glutinous Rice Powder - 1.25 cups
- Salt - 1 teaspoon
- Warm water - small amount for the dough
- Castella Cake - 1-2 slices
Instructions
- Peel 2 ripe bananas and place in a microwave-friendly bowl. Microwave for 1 minute. Then use a fork and mash-up the bananas very thoroughly.
- Take out a mixing bowl. Place in the glutinous rice powder (1.25 cups). Place in Salt (1 teaspoon). Mix the two together. Then add-in the mashed bananas. Mix everything. Add in a few drizzles of warm water until the dough starts to clump and turns into a ball. Keep kneading until the dough doesn't stick to your fingers. (Add more water if it falls apart). Set aside for now.
- Cut the crust and outer layer off your castella cake. Then use a cheese grater and grate your slice of cake into small sprinkles.
- Now, peel your 3rd ripe banana. Cut it into thin small pieces.
- Back to the dough. Snap-off a quarter-sized piece. Stretch it thin with your fingers (we don't want it too thick). Now place one or two banana pieces in the middle. Close it with your fingers and roll it in back and forth in the palm of your hands. This should form it into a ball. Repeat until you run out of dough.
- Fill a pot with water. Bring it up to boil. Then place your dough balls inside. Use a chopstick or kitchen utensil to give the balls a slight nudge (once in a while) so they don't stick to the bottom of the pot.
- Once all of the balls rise to the surface, let it boil for another 1 minute. (This will ensure that the dough is fully cooked through).
- Drain the water. Place the balls on your cooking board and let them completely cool-down. Let it drip off excess water. Once they're completely cool, roll each ball into your castella sprinkles. Toss them well and get them evenly coated.
- Serve immediately! With a cup of tea or coffee 🙂
Notes
- Rice cakes turns bad overnight - best to eat within a few hours of making
- Use glutinous rice powder - regular rice powder doesn't work
- If you don't have castella cake, you can substitute with other cakes as well.
- Refer to video for more details
