Rice cake
Soft, chewy, and deeply rooted in Korean tradition, tteok (rice cake) is a versatile ingredient enjoyed in both sweet and savory dishes.
In This Article
Tteok: A Traditional Staple
Tteok is a traditional Korean rice cake made from glutinous or non-glutinous rice. It’s chewy in texture and comes in many shapes and colors.
Types of Tteok
There are steamed, pounded, boiled, and pan-fried varieties, ranging from plain white rice cakes to sweet-filled or herb-infused ones.
Uses for Tteok
Tteok is enjoyed in celebrations, daily meals, desserts, and even soups like tteokguk (rice cake soup) during the Lunar New Year.
Common Culinary Applications
Tteok can be stir-fried with spicy sauce (tteokbokki), sliced into soup, or eaten as a dessert with honey, nuts, or red beans.
Tteok Recipes
Popular recipes include tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes), tteokguk (sliced rice cake soup), injeolmi (bean powder rice cake), and more.
How Tteok Works in Cooking
Due to its chewy texture and mild flavor, tteok easily absorbs sauces and flavors, making it a great base for both sweet and savory dishes.
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Perilla Seeds
Perilla seeds are one of Korea’s most distinctive traditional ingredients, known for their rich nutty aroma and high nutritional value. Ground perilla powder is used to enhance the creamy, savory depth of dishes like perilla sujebi, mushroom soups, vegetable sides, and traditional stews. When pressed into perilla oil, it becomes a signature finishing oil in Korean cuisine—especially in makguksu, bibim noodles, namul, and temple-style cooking. Packed with omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants, perilla seeds are valued not only for flavor but also for their contribution to heart health and overall wellness.
Korean Salt
Korean salt is an essential seasoning used in nearly every part of Korean cooking—from salting napa cabbage for kimchi to adjusting the final flavor of soups like seolleongtang, galbitang, and miyeok-guk. Coarse sea salt is especially valued for its mineral-rich profile, helping vegetables maintain crisp texture during salting and creating the ideal environment for fermentation in kimchi, doenjang, and gochujang. As a foundational ingredient in Korean kitchens, salt supports flavor development, preservation, and the balance of traditional Korean dishes.
Korean cabbage
Cabbage is a versatile Korean cooking vegetable known for its crisp texture and mild sweetness. It is widely used in street toast, cabbage wraps, stir-fries, fresh salads, and soups. Rich in vitamin C, vitamin K, and dietary fiber, cabbage supports digestion and overall wellness, making it a staple ingredient in Korean home cooking.
Saeu-jeot (Salted Fermented Shrimp)
Saeu-jeot is a traditional Korean salted and fermented shrimp condiment used to season kimchi, soups, and braised dishes. Known for its deep umami and long fermentation history, it forms a core part of Korean coastal preservation culture and is one of the most essential flavor bases in Korean cuisine.