Are you looking for a sweet and chewy treat to satisfy your sweet tooth? Look no further than Korean honey-glazed rice cakes or 가래떡맛탕 (Garae Tteok Mattang). These thick traditional rice cakes are made from glutinous rice flour, which gives them a soft and chewy texture. For today’s dish, we will coat them in sticky honey syrup, making them the perfect combination of sweet and savory.
This post is an exciting one for me because it’s the first one I’m writing in Korea! That’s right; we moved from Toronto to Seoul at the beginning of the month. We already signed our rental contract for an (in my opinion) perfect apartment, but we will have to stay in an Air BnB for a while until we are able to move in. Until then, I’m trying to come up with simple recipes that don’t require a lot of ingredients so that I can make them in our tiny kitchen. We live in a lively neighborhood right now, with countless food options and lots of small local shops to buy cooking ingredients. There’s also a shop selling rice cakes (떡집/ Tteokjib in Korean) located very close to our house, and of course, I couldn’t walk past without buying something.
So, today I’m introducing you to one of my favorite things to do with fresh rice cakes: Turn them into a delicious traditional Korean dessert!
What is Garae Tteok (가래떡)?
The rice cakes we are using today are called 가래떡/Garae Tteok. It is shaped like a small cylinder and has a chewy texture. Garae-tteok is often used as a main ingredient in various Korean dishes, such as Tteokbokki (spicy rice cake stir-fry), or served as a snack with honey or soy sauce, which is what we are going for today!
Garae Tteok is usually sold fresh, and for this recipe, I always recommend checking your local Korean/Asian grocery store for fresh rice cakes. If you can’t find the thick rice cakes I’m using for today’s recipe, you can use smaller rice cakes (like the ones normally used for Tteokbokki) as well.
Share your version!
I’d love to see your recreations of my recipe for Garaetteok Mattang! If you tried out this recipe and feel like sharing it on Instagram, please don’t forget to tag me in your post or story @larayorisa. Can’t wait to talk to you!
Honey-Glazed Rice Cakes (가래떡맛탕)
Ingredients
- 3 Big rice cakes (Garae Tteok)
- 6-7 Nuts (Almonds, Walnutes etc.)
- 3 tbsp Honey
- 3 tbsp Water
- Cooking Oil
Instructions
- Cut the rice cakes into ~5 cm long pieces.
- Add a generous amount of oil to a cooking pan and heat up the oil over medium to low heat.
- Add the rice cakes and briefly fry them on each side until the outside becomes slightly crispy. Remove the rice cakes from the oil and set aside.
- In a second pan, heat up 3 tbsp of honey and 3 tbsp of water. Stir slowly to combine.
- When the mixture starts to form bubbles, add the rice cakes and the nuts.
- Stir-fry for 2-3 minutes, until the rice cakes and nuts are covered with the honey syrup.
- Serve immediately as a snack or appetizer.