This tteokbokki recipe is a variation made with seafood and cheese. All the contrasting flavors work so well together to create something incredibly flavorful and comforting.
What happens when spicy tteokbokki — Korea’s most popular street food — meets seafood and cheese? It’s elevated to the next level! All the contrasting flavors work so well together to create something incredibly flavorful and comforting.
I recently enjoyed seafood cheese ttoekbokki at a Korean restaurant in K-town New York. It was delicious, so I’ve recreated it here for you!
Cheese didn’t exist in Korea in the past. The only cheese I knew growing up was American yellow cheese singles. Driven by the young generation, cheese consumption has been rapidly rising in Korea over the last two decades as Western dishes such as pizza have become enormously popular.
Cheeses are now commonly added to various traditional Korean dishes, such as tteokbokki, gimbap, gyeran mari, pajeon, bokkeum bap, dak galbi, etc. More creative ideas, incorporating cheese into Korean food, are on the rise, and cheese is becoming a “hip” ingredient in Korean cuisine!
The Cheese
Use any cheese(s) you would use for pizza or pasta. Mozzarella is great, and I also like the pizza blend (provolone, asiago, and mozzarella) in this dish. You can melt the cheese over the stove top, in the microwave, or under the broiler.
The seafood
Any combination of seafood can be used. I used shrimp and squid in this recipe. Clams and mussels would be great additions as well. If you don’t like seafood, simply omit them.
Both of my classic tteokbokki and soupy tteokbokki recipes use anchovy broth, but I used dashima and shrimp shells to make a flavorful broth here. You can simply use water if you want. The additions of seafood and cheese give the dish lots of flavor anyway.
For more Korean cooking inspirations, follow along on YouTube, Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Ingredients
- 1 pound tteokbokki tteok 떡볶이 떡
- 1 small piece dashima (about 3 inch square), dried kelp
- 6 small shrimp save shells if peeling
- 1/2 small squid
- 3 ounces green cabbage (yangbaechu, 양배추)
- 1 scallion
- 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese (or pizza blend) Use more if desired
Sauce
- 1 tablespoon gochujang, 고추장 (Korean red chili pepper paste)
- 1 tablespoons gochugaru, 고추가루 (Korean red chili pepper flakes) adjust to taste - see note
- 1.5 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon corn syrup or oligo syrup or use more sugar (about ⅔ tablespoon)
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
Instructions
- Soak the rice cakes for about 20 minutes if hardened or refrigerated.
- Clean the shrimp (saving the shells if peeling) and squid, and cut the squid into small pieces. Cut the cabbage and scallions into about 2-inch long pieces.
- Add 2 cups of water, dashima, and shrimp shells, if available, to a pan. Bring it to a boil, and continue to boil for 5 minutes. Remove the dashima and shrimp shells. Preheat the oven broiler if you want to use it to melt the cheese.
- Stir in the sauce ingredients. Bring it to a boil over medium high heat, stirring to dissolve the sauce mix. Add the rice cakes. Boil until the rice cakes become very soft and the sauce is thickened, about 8 - 10 minutes. Stir frequently so the rice cakes don't stick to the bottom of the pan.
- Add the cabbage. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, for an additional 2 - 4 minutes. Taste the sauce, and adjust the seasoning if needed.
- Mix in the seafood and scallion, and continue to cook, stirring, until the seafood is almost cooked.
- Add the cheese on top. You can melt the cheese over the stove top, covered, or in the microwave, or under the oven broiler.
Onelia says
Hello! I have a question, I was able to find dried rice cakes that were flat instead of cylinders in my nearest asian market here in Puerto Rico. They didn’t have the right ones in stock. Is it okay if I use those instead? I’m kinda hesitant to make it but I do have everything else.
Not says
Yep, that’s fine. I prefer the medallions.
Just, soak ’em in warm water, make sure they’re soft, and not stickin’ to each other (you might need to get your fingers in there, help w/the sticking bit).
Lea Neff says
I was just wondering what I should serve with this, as I hope to make it for dinner soon.
Thanks!
Hyosun says
Sorry I missed your question until now. This dish is great on its own, but it can be served with any Korean food, depending on your preference. Options are truly endless.
erin-patrick says
I made this on Tuesday night and it lasted me the whole week! I was expecting it to be unsuccessful, just because of my tendency toward kitchen disasters, but I followed every instruction to the letter and it came out delicious. Thank you so much for making these recipes easy to follow! This is cheesy comfort food at its best and I will definitely be making it again.
Hyosun says
Awesome! Happy to hear it turned out well, and this recipe gave you some confidence in the kitchen.
Rose says
Hello!! Thank you for the recipe, I loved it so much last time I made it! Hands down the most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted! So good that I want to make it for my friend next weekend. However, she has a soy allergy so can’t have soy sauce. Do you think this would work without the soy sauce? I think maybe it could since the seafood and cheese are already pretty salty, but what do you think?
Hyosun says
Oh sorry I missed this question, but for the future ref of everyone, yes you can season with salt or even fish sauce.
Sun Jae says
Thank you for this receipe, I’ll definitely try it as I absolutely love 떡볶이! 😀
I have a question regarding cooking time though. I love my tteok very chewy but not too soft. When I followed receipes which mention 10min or more of cooking, my tteok (rice tteok, not weat) become so soft they stick to the teeth and even break out while cooking 🙁 I only use packaged refrigerated tteok, the Korean grocery store I go to doesn’t make fresh ones. Is it the normal texture ? Unfortunately I never tasted tteokbokki made by a Korean chef so I can only rely on how I cook them and how I like them.
Thank you ! 🙂
Susi says
Thanks for sharing the recipe. Tastes great! My mouth waters just looking at your food photos. Love Korean food.
Noelle says
Hi there, can we skip the shrimp?
Hyosun says
Oh definitely!
Julie says
Hi, under “Sauce”, what is the last item after ‘2 tsp minced garlic’?
Hyosun says
Oh sorry that was just a photo of a bag of rice cake that I had it in the old format of the recipe card. The current format doesn’t have a feature for ingredient photos. I’ve updated it to delete the code. Thanks!
Sophie says
Hello,
Just wanted to say that I made this recipe for my mom and she loved it! It was delicious and full of flavor, thank you for explaining the step by step with so much preciseness, it was so easy to made! The only thing is the cheese, the mozzarella is too thick and didn’t melt very well, maybe some simple emmental cheese would have been a better remplacement. I live in France so we have plenty of cheese here! 😉
Again, a BIG thank you!
Hyosun says
Sorry about the late response! I somehow missed it. That’s great to hear your mom loved it. Try to grate the cheese or thinly slice next time.
Gemma says
Hi, Hyosun! I would like to ask if you can use tteokbokki as a substitute for pasta for some dishes like Lasagna or Baked Ziti? I loved its chewy texture,so I was wonderi if that would work. Any feedback will be much appreciated! Planning to use this recipe as an inspiration for a New Year’s eve main course. Thank you!
Hyosun says
Yes it can work. I’ve seen some people making tteokbokki pasta.