Injeolmi — Pounded Glutinous Rice Tteok (인절미)

The injeolmi tradition is documented throughout Korean history; it appears at all major celebrations, ancestral rites (제사), and seasonal festivals as one of the most important ceremonial tteok

Injeolmi (인절미) is the most satisfying of Korean tteok (rice cakes) — glutinous rice (찹쌀, chapssal) steamed until fully gelatinised then pounded in a large wooden mortar (절구, jeolgu) until completely smooth, pulled into cylinders, and cut into pieces which are coated in toasted roasted soybean flour (콩고물, konggomul). The pounding technique is the where the texture lives or dies: insufficient pounding produces grainy, uneven tteok; proper pounding produces a perfectly smooth, elastic, chewy texture that stretches without breaking. Traditional injeolmi was made communally with two people alternating mortar strikes in a coordinated rhythm.

• Directly parallels Japanese mochi (餅) in technique — both are pounded glutinous rice cakes — and Chinese nuo mi ci (糯米糍) in the soybean flour coating; but Korean injeolmi's konggomul (toasted soybean flour) coating produces a distinctly different, nuttier exterior

Injeolmi's textural contrast between the elastic, sticky interior and the dry, nutty konggomul exterior is one of Korean cuisine's most distinctive sensory experiences. The tteok absorbs the soybean flour as you eat, creating a progressively changing texture from the first to last bite.