Discover Korean Food #51: Dr. Sook-Ja Yoon's "Gungjung-tteokbokki, Rice Cake Pasta and Vegetables, Royal Style"

Gungjung-tteokbokki is a dish made of white rice cakes, beef and various dried and raw vegetables stir-fried with soy sauce for seasoning. Tteokbokki was not spicy and only made with soy sauce until the 18th century. But nowadays, it is cooked with a spicy red bean paste, which had been seen in recipes since the 1950s.

[Ingredients & Quantity]
300 g white steamed rice cake, 13 g (1 tbsp) sesame oil
100 g beef (top round)
15 g (3 sheets) brown oak mushrooms
20 g dried pumpkin strips
50 g (⅓ ea) onion, 15 g (1 ea) green pepper, 20 g (1 ea) red pepper
60 g mung bean sprouts, 400 g (2 cups) water, 4 g (1 tsp) salt
60 g (1 ea) egg, 13 g (1 tbsp) edible oil
Seasoning sauce ① : 9 g (½ tbsp) soy sauce, 6 g (½ tbsp) sugar, 4.5 g (1 tsp) minced green onion, 2.8 g (½ tsp) minced garlic, 0.3 g (⅛ tsp) ground black pepper, 4 g (1 tsp) sesame oil
Seasoning sauce ② : 18 g (1 tbsp) soy sauce, 6 g (½ tbsp) sugar, 6 g (1 tsp) honey, 4.5 g (1 tsp) minced green onion, 2.8 g (½ tsp) minced garlic, 4 g (1 tsp) sesame oil, 50 g (¼ cups) water

[Preparation]
1. Cut the white rice cake into 4~5 cm-long, shred them into 4 pieces lengthwise, mix them with sesame oil together (250 g).
2. Clean blood of beef with cotton cloths, cut into 5 cm-long, 0.3 cm-wide/thick. Soak the brown oak mushrooms and dried pumpkin strips in water for 1 hour. Cut them into 5 cm-long, 0.7 cm-wide and 0.3 cm-thick (beef 80 g, brown oak mushrooms 45 g, pumpkin strips 80 g).
3. Shred the onion, green/red pepper into 5 cm-long and 0.7 cm-wide.
4. Remove the heads and tails of mung bean sprouts, wash in water.
5. Panfry egg for garnish, shred into 5 cm-long and 0.7 cm-wide.
6. Blend seasoning sauce ① and ②.

[Recipe]
1. Pour water into the pot, heat it up for 2 min. on high heat. When it boils, scald the mung bean sprouts with salt for 2 min. drain water (43 g).
2. Preheat the frying pan and oil, stir-fry the onion and pumpkin strips for 2 min. respectively on medium heat. Stir-fry the green/red pepper for 20 sec. Season the beef and mushrooms with seasoning sauce ①, and stir-fry for 2 min. on medium heat.
3. Preheat the frying pan, stir-fry white rice cake with seasoning sauce ② for 3 min. on medium heat. Add the beef, mushrooms, pumpkin strips, onion, green/red pepper and mung bean sprouts, then stir-fry for 30 sec. Turn the heat off, mix them with egg garnish thoroughly.

[Tips]
*Pumpkin strips may be replaced by gourd strips and/or carrot.
*If white rice cake is dried hard, scald slightly in boiling water.