How to Make Homemade Dduk (also known as Tteok,Ddeock, duk, ddeog and thuck)

There's a little Korean market owned by a sweet older couple near us called Dae Sung that we frequent on the weekends. It's a tiny place that doesn't have the massive selection of  Lotte or H-Mart, but it's great for picking up a few quick ingredients when we don't feel like making the 30 minute pilgrimage out to the Korean megastores of Route 40. They also make the best kimchi ever. (Even better than Dave's mother's. But don't tell her I said that.)

Amazing kimchi aside, the real reason we go there is for the ever-changing selection of fresh dduk, or korean rice cakes that are delivered on Saturday mornings. Over the years, we've become such regulars, and Dave has talked to the owners so enthusiastically about my ddukbokki recipe, that as soon as we open the door, the wife holds up a package of ddukbokki dduk and saves it for us at the register. Inevitably, even if I hadn't planned on making ddukbokki for lunch or dinner, I end up finding myself in the kitchen making some anchovy stock for the base as soon as I get home, while Dave cues up our One Republic Pandora station and chows down on a few of the other kinds of dduk he couldn't help but buy. All in all, it makes for a pretty great Saturday.

A few months ago, I wondered to myself how hard it might be to make dduk myself? I'd seen recipes for different kinds in some of my cookbooks and eventually decided to try making injeolmi, which turned out to be quite easy. So, the other day when I needed a break from writing, I thought I would take the plunge and make dduk for ddukbokki and ddukguk.

Aerie's Kitchen, a wonderful blog with very helpful videos and excellent Korean recipes, inspired me to believe that I could. And since I already had all of the ingredients in my house, I set to work whipping up a batch of dduk. Amazingly, it was quite easy! But, I HIGHLY recommend you watch her video before trying this out.

Homemade dduk for ddukguk, sliced and whole.

I made Aerie's recipe, but instead of using a bread machine to knead the dough, I used my dough hook on my Kitchen Aid mixer. It was amazing to see how the dough, which starts out as a crumbly mixture, turns into a smooth, stretchy, chewy ball after 25 minutes of kneading. If you are crazy enough to do this by hand, it would be quite the workout. But, I would only attempt it if you are a lumberjack with indefatigable hands. Otherwise, use your mixer or bread machine.

So, without further ado--and with a HUGE thank you to Aerie--here's how to make dduk for ddubokki or ddukguk.

Homemade dduk for ddukbokki

Ingredients 
3 cups rice flour (NOT glutinous rice flour)
1 1/2 cups filtered water (you might need to add a tad extra)
1 tsp fine salt (don't use kosher)

Instructions

In a large bowl, mix together rice flour and water. The mixture will be crumbly like a streusel topping.

Meanwhile, bring water in a steamer to a boil.

Transfer rice flour mixture to a cheese cloth and place it cafefully in the steamer basket.

Cover with the lid and steam for 20 minutes.

Then carefully transfer the mixture, which will have changed in color slightly and will now have a spongy texture, to a mixer bowl.

Using the dough hook, mix on low for 25 minutes. You may need to stop and redistribute the dough in the bowl from time to time.

Then, place the dough on a rolling mat and brush a little sesame oil on your hands and the dough. Roll the dough into little logs: 1 inch diameter for ddukguk dduk and about 1/2 inch for ddukbokki dduk. Hopefully yours will turn out prettier than mine! But, hey, at least no one will doubt they were homemade.

You can eat them fresh as is, make them into ddukbokki, or let the big dduk sit at room temperature for a day, slice, and cook in ddukguk.


For my ddukbokki recipe click here!
For my ddukguk recipe, click here!