Cooking Royal Ddeokbokki and Odeng-Tang

Our cooking teacher at the  Hana Cooking School in Mia

Last Saturday my Korean class held a field trip at a cooking school near Mia Station. We got the opportunity to make 꼬치 오뎅탕 (translated as fishball stick soup) and 궁중떡볶이 (Royal Ddeokbokki). 

Odeng, egg, radish, fried tofu and devil's tounge jelly

Above are some of the ingredients that we used to make our Odeng-tang, or fishball stick soup. Odeng (the fishball), egg and radish pre-boiled in soy sauce, fried tofu filled with meat and the strange twisted looking things are called 곤약 or Devil's tongue jelly. We also, of course, needed the odeng, which is pictured below! Some people who had made reservations to come to our field trip couldn't come, so we had way too many ingredients, as you can see from the photo.

Cut up odeng before putting them on sticks

Heaps of sliced odeng

We cut up flat pieces of odeng and put them on sticks. You don't need to do this, but it just makes it look nicer!

Then it's time to make the soup! Put your odeng in the pot with the egg, fried tofu filled with meat, devil's tongue jelly, radish and some carrot with enough water to cover everything. Then add some soy sauce, cooking wine (밀임), black pepper, crushed garlic, seasoning (다시다) and salt to taste.

Let it boil for a while.....

Odeng-tang, the final result!

Next on the list was the Royal Ddeokbokki (궁중떡볶이). This is quite different than most ddeobokki you've tried on the street in Korea. It was considered food for the king and has no hot pepper added to it. It may have even been invented before Koreans started using hot peppers in their cuisine, if you can imagine such a thing!

Veggies for the royal ddeokbokki and odeng-tang

In the royal ddeokbokki, you need to put lots of vegetables. We used green onion, green pepper, onion, red pepper and some black mushroom. Cut them up and get your ddeok (rice cake) ready.

 Boiling the ddeok to soften

Since we used hard ddeok, we needed to soften it in boiling water first. If you're using fresh ddeok this step is not necessary. Season the softened ddeok with sesame oil and soy sauce. This also keeps the ddeok from sticking together as you wait to add it to the frying pan.

Marinating the beef

Also, be sure to marinate your beef for a little bit before you start to cook. We were given a premade sauce made with soy sauce, sesame oil, and garlic. We added some to marinate and saved some for later to cook with.

 Frying the royal ddeokbokki

Once everything is cut up, softened and marinated, add your beef to your frying pan and fry. If you like your veggies well cooked, add them too with some cooking oil. Then add your ddeok. Now it's time to add some seasonings. Add the rest of the sauce that was used to marinate the meat. Add a little sugar and salt and more sesame oil to taste along with a half a cup of water.

 The final product!

And enjoy!