Simple porky broth with chewy rice cakes and sweet cabbage.

Baechu Tteok Guk - Napa Cabbage Rice Cake Soup

Serves 4 - 6

This tasty soup comes together in about an hour and is one of my favorites as we enter peak cabbage season. The simple broth is enriched by first browning the pork which gives lots of color to the resulting broth and allowed to shine by not adding too many additional flavors. Mushrooms give a hearty chew while the rice cakes add an additional layer of chewiness. The sweet cabbage counters the mushrooms and rice cakes by being both tender and silky from the leaves while also lending a slight crunch from the stem.

Ingredients

Broth

1 T vegetable oil

570g (1.25 lbs) pork shoulder, cut into 0.50 in cubes

100g (0.50 medium onion), sliced thinly with the grain

8 garlic cloves, minced

225g (6 large) shiitake mushrooms, sliced 1/3 in thick

2 T oyster sauce

2,000ml (10 c) water

6g dashima

2 T fish sauce

2 T yondu

2 t kosher salt 

Fillings

850g (1 medium) Napa cabbage, cut into 1.5 – 2 in chunks

500g (1 package) sliced tteok, oval shaped

100g (6 – 7) scallion, sliced

1 cheongyang or serrano chili- sliced – optional

Recipe Know-how

1.      Heat a large pot over medium-high.

• Add the vegetable oil then the pork.

• Cook stirring occasionally until the pork is browned on all sides, about 7 – 10 minutes.

Do not stir too regularly, give each side at least 2 – 3 minutes to brown well.

• Add the onion, garlic and mushrooms.

• Cook stirring occasionally for 5 minutes or until the mushrooms and onions have wilted.

• Add the oyster sauce and cook for 90 seconds stirring frequently.

• Add the water, dashima, fish sauce, yondu and salt.

• Bring to a boil covered and reduce to a simmer.

• Simmer for 30 minutes skimming any scum that comes to the surface.

• Remove and discard the dashima.

• Add the cabbage then the rice cakes on top. Do not stir.

• Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Stir and cook 5 minutes longer.

• Taste and adjust seasoning as desired.

• Add the scallions and chili if using. Cook 1 minute.

2.      Serve.