Grain
Garaetteok
가래떡
Also called tteok, Korean rice cakes, cylinder rice cake
Chewy Korean rice cakes made from pounded short-grain or glutinous rice. Garaetteok are the white cylinders of tteokbokki; thinner slices become tteokguk. The point is the spring, not a strong rice flavour.
Origin
Korea, where pounding steamed rice into cake is festival and everyday food. Chinese niangao and Japanese mochi are relatives, not the same shape or sauce life.
Flavour
Mild, milky rice. Fresh cakes taste faintly sweet; refrigerated ones taste of almost nothing until they hit sauce. Stale tteok cracks rather than stretching.
How it is made
Rice is soaked, steamed and pounded or extruded until the starch turns elastic, then rolled into cylinders. Fresh cakes are soft; supermarket packs are refrigerated or frozen and much firmer.
How to use it
Soak refrigerated garaetteok in warm water until they bend without snapping, then simmer in sauce so they finish glossy. Frozen cakes need a longer soak — rushing them leaves a hard core. They drink liquid: tteokbokki sauce should start a little looser than you want the finished pot. Do not boil them empty like pasta; they leach starch and go slack. Reheat leftovers covered with a spoon of water.
Storage
Fridge for a few days, or freeze. They harden when cold — that is normal.
Recipes using it
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