Rice Cake Soup tteokguk/ddukguk for Korean Lunar New Year

Happy Lunar New Year! In the past I’ve highlighted some traditional dishes from around Asia, and now we’re on to Korea, where the Lunar New Year is called Seollal. Tteokguk (or ddukguk) – rice cake soup – is probably one of the most recognizable Seollal dishes. Eating a bowl of this soup symbolizes growing another year older, as well as wishes for a long, healthy life. The key to the soup are the tasty dumpling-like rice cakes (which can be found in other Korean dishes with variations like spicy sauce – ddukbokki). There are many variations on the soup, with different types of stock, so here a a few versions, from Crazy Korean Cooking, My Korean Eats and Chow Divine.

Rice Cake Soup by Tony Song