Happy Korean New Year! How are you celebrating the new year?
My family would always start the New Year with a warm bowl of Tteokguk, or rice cake soup. It signifies purity, fortune and luck for the year to come. And I really need good fortune and luck so I’m consuming multiple bowls today! 🙂
But all jokes aside, this soup is consumed throughout the year with people always going back for seconds.
The rice cakes add a chewy texture but do not add much flavor so the broth is really the star of the show. This broth is made from dried shiitake mushrooms, which adds a depth of flavor that mimics a meat-based broth. Plus, the shiitake mushrooms adds a lot of immune fighting properties as well as all essential amino acids.
Traditionally, this soup is filled with rice cakes, but it’s common to add dumplings. I’ll link my Korean vegetarian dumplings in case you want to do the same!
The soup also is garnished with strips of egg, which I recreated with tofu and chickpea flour. The dumplings and faux egg are optional but recommended!
Happy Korean New Year and enjoy this light and tasty nutrient-packed rice cake soup!
Love Korean food? Check out my other Korean recipes here!
quick notes
- Traditionally, mushrooms are not added to Korean rice cake soup. However, I do not want to be wasteful as mushrooms have a lot of immune fighting properties and essential amino acids.
- If rice cakes are frozen, I recommend soaking them for 10 minutes in warm water before adding it to the broth.
- Turmeric is mainly added to give the faux egg it’s yellow “eggy” color.
- Nutritional yeast, or “nooch”, is a must have pantry item for all vegans! It has a nutty, cheesy flavor that is packed with the essential vitamin, such as B12. Try adding it to faux cheese savory dishes or liberally sprinkle it on steamed veggies, popcorn, tacos, etc – the possibilities are endless.
- Arrowroot is a type of starch that acts as a thickener. Unlike it’s popular counterpart, cornstarch, arrowroot is not genetically modified or highly processed.
VEGAN DUMPLING AND RICE CAKE SOUP
makes 2 servings
Shiitake Mushroom Broth
- 4-inch dried kelp
- 3 dried shiitake mushrooms
- ½ white onion
- 2 green onions
- 6 cups water
Slice green onions in half and place the side with the white end in a pot with the remaining broth ingredients. Set aside the green end of the scallion to use as garnish. Once broth comes to a boil, simmer with the top on for 23-25 minutes. Strain the broth and discard the kelp, white onion and green onions. Slice the mushrooms into thin strips and set aside.
Faux egg (optional)
- ½ block of 12 oz silken tofu (not firm)
- 1 garlic
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- ¼ tsp turmeric
- 1 tbsp tahini
- 1 tbsp chickpea flour
- 1 tsp arrowroot flour
- 4-5 cracks of salt
While the broth is simmering, add silken tofu to a blender and blend. Add in rest of ingredients and blend thoroughly.
Heat a non-stick pan with oil and pour 1/4 cup of the mixture. Wait 4-5 minutes and then flip and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Repeat until mixture is gone. Slice the egg mixture into strips and set aside.
Toppings
- 300g rice cakes
- 6-10 vegetarian dumplings
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
Add rice cakes and dumplings to the broth and simmer for another 3-4 minutes. Stir in black pepper and soy sauce. Take broth off heat and stir in sesame oil.
Garnish
- green onions (from earlier)
- seaweed sheets
- sesame seeds
- soy sauce (optional)
Divide the broth into two bowls. Garnish with green onions, seaweed sheets, sesame seeds and faux egg. Add in additional teaspoons of soy sauce for more saltiness.
Enjoy!
p.s. If you like this recipe, click the icons below to share and leave a comment below! Make sure to tag me @girlmeetsradish & #girlmeetsradish so I can see what you are making!
