My mom used to go to local tteok (rice cake) stores to buy fresh tteok, made from her choice of rice with best quality.

As a young girl, I enjoyed watching the tteok being extruded from a machine as long cylinders and the hearty warm smell full everywhere. It was almost a rule that we had to taste the hot steamy tteok with pinch of sugar, honey, sesame oil or gangjang(soy sauce in Korean). The chewy, starchy and mild flavoured delicacy could turn into anything from tteokbokki to tteokguk(soup).

While it is always easy to buy ready-to-cook tteok in local supermarkets, my mom chose to slice every single tteok into the thin shape to make tteokguk for the new years day.

Eating tteokguk is a traditional way to celebrate the new years day in Korea. And the dish varies based on the regions as we can see the different shapes of tteok and ingredients in my illustrations.

Personally I do love the sticky texture of the tteokguk soup when eating 1 day after it is cooked because the starch soaking out of tteok makes the soup thicker.

If you find some Asian food market in your town, it could be a fun idea to try making tteokguk for your new year’s day! Just be aware of the tradition that you get a year older as you finish a bowl of tteokguk. 😉