One of Korea’s favourite (perhaps the most favourite) street foods, Tteokbokki. This vegan rendition is just as delicious and addicting.
I turned this tteokbokki into more of a meal by adding pan-fried tofu and cabbage, but you can totally omit them and just add more rice cakes. The triangular tofu also looks a lot like fish cakes, which is a common ingredient in tteokbokki!
How to make flavourful vegan tteokbokki
Although the street-style tteokbokki leans towards the sweeter side, the sauce is actually made with Korean soup stock. This stock contains anchovies (so it’s not vegan-friendly), and gives this dish a lil extra something.
In order to recreate that depth of flavour, I make my own Korean vegetable stock using kombu (or dashima, in Korean), dried shiitake mushrooms and a few other ingredients. If you’re short on time you can just use water, but using this veggie stock (or a store-bought kind) is way better.
Notes 🗒
- Stock is a lot more flavourful but you can substitute it for water.
- Refer to the rice cake packaging for instructions. Many recipes ask you to presoak the rice cakes, but the ones I used cook quickly so I skipped it.
- Feel free to adjust the ratios of the sauce. I personally like it a bit savoury. For a sweeter version, add more sugar or reduce the amount of soy sauce.
If you liked this recipe, try making my Vegan Kimchi.
If you made this recipe, do leave a comment and rating below because I love hearing your feedback. Make sure to tag me on Instagram @eatwkriss so that I can see your recreations!
Vegan Tteokbokki 떡볶이 (Korean Spicy Rice Cakes)
Ingredients
Korean vegetable stock
- 5 cups water
- 5 g kombu (dried seaweed)
- 5 dried shiitake mushrooms
- ½ yellow onion chopped
- ½ bulb garlic whole or in cloves
- 1 inch ginger
- 150 g radish chopped
- 3 scallions
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
Tteokbokki
- 1 cup vegetable stock
- 250 g tteokbokki (Korean rice cakes)
- 2 tbsp gochujang (Korean chili paste)
- 1½ tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sugar
- ½ tbsp gochugaru (Korean chili flakes)
- 150 g firm tofu
- 100 g cabbage shredded
- scallions
- toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
Make Korean vegetable stock
- Optional: Soak kombu and dried shiitake mushrooms in 5 cups of water for 30 minutes.
- In a medium pot, combine all the stock ingredients. Cover with a lid and boil for 10 minutes, then remove the kombu. Let simmer for at least 20 minutes (the longer, the better).
- Drain and set aside to cool before storing in clean jars/bottles. The cooked ingredients can still be eaten, so save them for next time.
Cook tteokbokki
- In a small bowl, combine gochujang, sugar, gochugaru and soy sauce. Slice the tofu into triangles, or whatever shape you like. Pat dry with paper towels.
- Add oil to a large pan over medium-high heat. Fry the tofu until golden brown on both sides, and set aside. Turn off the heat and let the oil cool slightly.
- Once the oil has cooled, add in vegetable stock, tteokbokki and sauce. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Add in pan-fried tofu and cabbage, cooking for another 2-3 minutes.
- Garnish with scallions and toasted sesame seeds.
Hey Kris the teobokki looks so delicious A quick qn
How much vege stock do u use ? Thanks
My apologies, I realise I didn’t mention it in the recipe list! I’ve just updated it. I use 1 cup of vegetable stock 🙂
Love this recipe can’t wait to try it!