Dukguk is a Korean soup made with rice cakes, egg, seaweed, sometimes mandu (dumplings). It can be made with seafood broth or any kind of meat. My husband got this recipe from his Korean mom, so this is the way she makes it. It is traditionally eaten on New Year’s day for good luck and we continued that tradition.
I love this soup. Is is simple, but so satisfying. The little rice cakes that go in it are so addicting. You can use dried anchovies to make the broth for this, or if you don’t have those (I didn’t) you can use dashi and some fish sauce. If you don’t like seafood, beef and onions is a good base for the soup.
You can get the rice cakes at Asian markets, and you can also get frozen mandu to add to this. A few eggs and whisked together and cooked in a thin omelet which is then added to the soup along with the rice cakes, mandu, some sliced crispy seaweed, and some scallions.
Dukguk Soup (Korean New Year’s Soup)
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- 6 cups water
- 1 tsp instant dashi or a few dried anchovies
- 1 tsp korean beef soup powder
- 1 onion
- 1 celery stalk
- 2-3 tbsp fish sauce
- 3 scallions sliced
- 1 1/2 cup rice cakes
- frozen or fresh mandu (dumplings)
- thinly sliced seaweed
Instructions
- Add the water to a large pot along with the dashi or anchovies, beef powder, onion, celery and fish sauce. Simmer for 30 minutes, taste and adjust seasoning. Remove the onion and celery.
- Whisk the eggs in a bowl with a little salt. Heat a skillet over medium and grease lightly. Pour in the egg and tilt pan around to make a thin layer. Cook until the egg is mostly cooked then roll up into a roll. Cool on a cutting board then slice into ribbons.
- Heat the broth to boiling and add the mandu and rice cakes. Cook at a simmer until they are cooked.
- Ladle soup into bowls and top with egg ribbons and sliced seaweed and scallions.