Korean tteok (rice cakes) — made from glutinous or regular rice flour, shaped into dozens of forms — demonstrate the Korean mastery of steamed and pounded rice starch into structural forms. The distinction between glutinous rice flour (chapssal) and non-glutinous (mepssal) is the primary technical distinction: glutinous produces a stretchy, chewy, transparent tteok; non-glutinous produces a firmer, more opaque, less stretchy tteok.
- **Glutinous rice (chapssal):** High amylopectin content — produces the sticky, stretchy, chewy quality of mochi-like tteok. Used for songpyeon (half-moon rice cakes), baemi-tteok (worm tteok), and most celebratory rice cakes. - **Non-glutinous rice (mepssal):** Lower amylopectin, firmer result — used for garae-tteok (the cylindrical tteok used in tteokbokki and tteokguk). - **The steaming principle:** Rice flour mixed to a paste, steamed over boiling water — the steam gelatinises the starch from the outside in. The layering of different fillings and coatings during steaming is a specific art form. - **The pounding (heukimja-tteok):** Fully cooked glutinous rice pounded in a stone mortar until completely smooth and cohesive — the Korean equivalent of Japanese mochi production. The pounding continues until no whole grains remain and the mass is completely elastic.
Maangchi