Duk Guk

Duk guk is a Korean dish traditionally eaten during the New Year celebrations. It is similar to the Chinese nian gao (年糕). Duk guk consists of a thick soup with thinly sliced rice cakes. The tradition is that eating duk guk will bring luck and allow the eater to gain a year. This dish is commonly garnished with julienned eggs, marinated beef strips, and kim, but I used ground beef and black beans instead of the more traditional beef strips. Since I used ground beef and black beans, the duk guk I made was darker, but no less tasty. I also added some chili pepper flakes to the eggs, which I cooked in sesame oil for extra flavor. According to tradition, this dish is eaten during the new year since the white duk signifies purity and cleanliness, and eating it is a ritual to start off the new year with good fortune. Thus, if you're eating this dish as part of a new year celebration, you might want to use beef strips instead of ground beef and black beans. However, duk guk is good enough to eat any time of the year! Aside from the ground beef and black beans, this duk guk is fairly standard and prepared by boiling the duk (or rice cakes) and garnishing with julienned pan fried egg, kim, and green onions.

Duk Guk

by CJ Huang

Materials:

Mass	Weight	Volume	Number	Material	Notes
				rice cakes	You might need to go to an Asian store to find these. Another alternative might be to use thick noodles.
				water/stock
				fish sauce
			2	eggs
				green onions, sliced
				kim
				chili pepper flakes	optional
				oil	I used sesame.
				beef	I used ground beef and black beans, but beef strips is more traditional.

Methods:

1. Boil rice cakes in water/stock until cooked and desired consistency reached.
2. Add a small amount of fish sauce and mix in (optional).
3. Pan fry egg (using sesame oil and adding some chili pepper flakes if desired) and cut into thin strips.
4. Scoop rice cakes out with desired amount of "soup" and garnish with egg, green onions, and kim.