Potato Wedge Tteokbokki – Perfect If You Don't Have Rice Cakes!
Tteokbokki is Korea’s #1 favorite street food. For those new to Korean cooking, Tteokbokki is rice cakes that are boiled in a spicy Gochujang-based sauce. (See the classic recipe here)
In the 90’s, you could find it everywhere in Korea - typically sold-off street cart vendors (called pojang macha) throughout the city.
Nowadays, due to city regulations and increase standard of living, these pojang machas are harder to comeby. (What a shame!)
Instead, you’ll find Tteokbokki being served in fast-casual (bunsik) shops.
Tteokbokk is one of those dishes that Koreans (especially women) crave from time-to-time.
In fact, we get a lot of emails from Koreans that live abroad on how to make the actual rice cakes from home.
However, making rice cakes from scratch is a laborious and very time-intensive process. Plus, it only lasts for 24-36 hours.
It’s better to simply buy the rice cakes from a local Korean mart.
But not everybody has a Korean mart in their neighborhood.
And I know, there are many of you who are interesting to trying making Tteokbokki for the first time.
That’s when we started to brainstorm on possible substitutes – and thought about potatoes!
Sure, potatoes and rice cakes don’t have the same texture. But you can sample what Tteokbokki Sauce tastes like. Plus the potatoes absorb the flavor well!
One challenge was to ensure that the potatoes don’t get overcooked and crumble apart.
But that was easily avoided by cutting them into larger, potato wedges.
We tried it out and the taste was great – Potato Wedge Tteokbokki Works!
Cooking Notes for Potato Tteokbokki:
Our sauce is not overly spicy – and has a slight sweetness!
If you want to make it spicier (and have a darker, deep-red color), you can either (#1) Use 5 Tablespoons of Gochujang Paste rather than 4 Tablespoons in the beginning or (#2) Add in another Tablespoon of Gochugaru Flakes.
If you want to reduce the sweetness, use only 1 Tablespoon of Honey (as opposed to two).
Also, make sure to sprinkle on some shredded cheese and pop in the microwave for 1 minute! The melted cheese offers a pleasantly savory flavor that pairs nicely with the spicy & sweet Tteokbokki sauce.
Enjoy ya’ll! If you try making this dish at home, tag us on IG. We LOVE seeing pictures of your dishes in the morning
Note: We have also have Tteokbokki Eggs Recipe (Click Here)
Ingredients
- 3-4 Medium-Sized Potatoes
- 1 whole Onion
- 1 stalk Spring Onion
- Few pieces Fishcake (Eomuk) Optional
- 3 Whole Eggs Optional
- Few handfuls Shredded Cheese
Tteokbokki Sauce
- 1 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
- 4 Tablespoons Gochujang (Korean Chili Pepper Paste)
- 2 cups Water
- 1 Tablespoon Minced Garlic
- 1 Tablespoon Gochugaru (Korean Chili Pepper Flakes)
- 1 Tablespoon Sugar
- 2 Tablespoons Honey (Or use Oligodang Syrup)
- 2-3 big pinches of Salt
Instructions
Prep Ingredients
- Peel and wash potatoes. Then cut them into wedge shapes - measure 3 cups worth. Place the wedges pieces in a bowl of cold water - this will prevent them from oxidizing and changing colors.
- Place water into a pot. Bring it to boil. Place 3 Eggs in and set a timer for 7 minutes After 7 minutes, drain the hot water and soak the soft-boiled eggs in cold water. Let it cool down, then carefully peel.
- Cut 1 whole Onion into thin pieces. Then Cut 1 stalk of Spring Onion into smaller pieces. Then cut Fish Cakes into bite-sized pieces.
Make Tteokbokki
- Before we start, drain the water from the potatoes. Shake off any excess water. Then place the potato wedges aside.
- Place Vegetable Oil (1 Tablespoon) into a large pot or wok. Then add-in Gochujang (4 Tablespoons). Place it on Medium Heat and mix the paste into the oil. Stir it around for around 2 minutes. After 2 minutes, the gochujang will look bubbly and clumped up - that's good
- Now add the onions slices. Then add the potato wedges.
- Gently stir-fry everything until the potatoes wedges are well-coated in the sauce. Then add in 2 cups of water. Wait until the pot comes back up to a boil.
- Once its boiling, add in Minced Garlic (1 Tablespoon), Gochugaru (1 Tablespoon), Sugar (1 Tablespoon), Honey (2 Tablespoons), Salt (2-3 big pinches).
- Then let the potatoes boil away for 5 minutes - on a medium-low heat!
- After 5 minutes, add in the fish cakes, soft-boiled eggs and the spring onions.
- Let it boil away for another 2-3 minutes. After 2-3 minutes, check on the status of your potatoes. Poke it with a fork or chopstick. They should be soft - but firm. Cook it for a few more minutes if the potatoes are still hard.
- When the potatoes are ready, scoop out a few souple ladle's worth into a smaller bowl. Sprinkle a few handfuls of cheese over them. Microwave for 1 minute!
- Bon Appetit!
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Samwise says
I loved it. I will use more Kolbassa next time as odeng just isn't for me. I had potatoe and brown rice cake. It was delicious
Diane says
I just made this with tiny fingerling potatoes -- so delicious!
Heaven says
I've made this more times than I can count! In fact, it's one of my staple "treat yo self" friday night recipes. I've used the recipe with potatos (as directed) and also just with rice cakes. It's a really simple but effective recipe that I've almost memorized at this point. Thank you Daniel and Katie for making Korean food so accessible, especially when I can't go to my usual Korean restaurants 🙂
Dani says
I was really intrigued when I first came across this recipe because I'm actually not a huge fan of rice cakes (if I get tteokbokki, I eat more of the fishcakes or noodles or whatever else comes with it). Anyway, I made this dish recently and it turned out great! I think I must've boiled it for a bit too long because the potatoes were a bit too soft but the broth was very tasty and the cheese was a nice touch too. Would make again!
DJ says
thanks for sharing this recipe - it turned out to be really great!
Went on holidays with some Gochujang and Gochugaru leftovers but there were no rice cakes accessible, but plenty of potatoes - so we decided to make this and it tasted really good.
Instead of odeng we added some sausage and it was very yummy but of course a little bit more hearty than "normal" tteokbokki! 🙂
Dan-yul says
Heh, sounds like my type of Tteokbokki (especially with the sausage!) Cheers to you DJ!
Nova says
WHAT?! This is brilliant! I have to make this immediately.
Anna says
This was my first ever attempt at making tteokbokki, because I couldn't get my hands on rice cakes. It's so tasty! I'll definitely make it again!