Sanjeok is a variety of jeok – skewered meat and vegetables. Unlike some other jeok varieties, sanjeok is not flour- or egg-battered. The ingredients are skewered and then grilled or pan-fried. Tteok (rice cake) sanjeok is made with garaetteok, which is unsweetened rice cake that’s shaped like a long cylinder.
Garaetteok is abundant this time of year because it’s cut into oval slices and used to make tteokguk (soup made with rice cakes), a must-have New Year dish. I used regular size garaetteok in this recipe, which I cut into short strips. Day old rice cakes will be best for cutting. You can use thinner ones that are made for tteokbokki (spicy stir-fried rice cakes) instead, if you’d like. Beef, mushrooms and scallions are traditional accompaniments, but you can use any meat or vegetables of your choice.
This colorful, nutritionally well-balanced skewers will be a great addition to your Lunar New Year table!
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Ingredients
Ingredients
For the rice cake
- 2 pieces garaetteok sufficient for 4 7-centimeter long pieces
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
For the beef
- 4 ounces lean beef tenderloin, sirloin, eye round
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon rice wine
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- pinch pepper
For the vegetables
- 4 king trumpet mushrooms saesongi beoseot
- 2 small carrots
- 4 scallions
- salt and pepper
- oil for pan frying
- sesame seeds or chopped pine nuts for garnish - optional
- 8 skewers about 4-inch long
Latha says
Wish you a happy, healthy, prosperous new year, Hyosun!
If you buy fresh rice cakes (thin finger sized cakes, sliced ovals, regular (long and chubby) cakes) one or two days ahead of cooking, how do you store them? Or do you cook them on the same day? I hesitate to store them in the fridge because they get hard but they also quickly get moldy on the counter. So unless I know that I can cook them on the same day, I pass by them.