Tteobokki Chips: The popular Korean dish as a snack

Tteokbokki is a very well known Korean dish, sold there mainly as street food. The name literally means "fried rice cake" and is formed from the Korean words tteok (rice cake) and bokki (to fry). The rice cakes are usually served with a slightly spicy sauce based on the Korean spice paste gochujang.

In Korea, stalls with steaming pans full of rice cakes are part of the street scene. People eat standing up, out of a paper cup, with a toothpick or a small fork, often in passing on the way home. So that you can try this flavor without a pot or stove, it comes as a nibble here. The taste of the original stays, the texture changes completely.

The tteokbokki chips copy the long shape of the rice cakes, but they are made from wheat instead of rice. Where the original is soft and chewy, the crackers are crunchy. The seasoning stays: slightly spicy, clearly savory, with a sweet note in the background. One pack contains 130 g, enough for a bowl to share. You eat them with your fingers, straight from the bowl.

The cooked original needs a pot, a sauce and time. Here you get the same direction of seasoning in dry form: a snack, not a dish. It fits into a round of nibbles on a series night, as a savory counterpart to sweet treats, or as a small way in if you have so far only watched Korean street food.

If you want to balance out the heat, put something cold next to it: chilled tea or a soy drink work well. Once opened, crackers are at their best while they are still crunchy, so close the bag well afterwards. They work as a small gift too: small enough for a parcel, unusual enough to need explaining when unwrapped.