Sotteok (So-tteok So-tteok), Korean Hot Dog and Rice Cake Skewers!

Sotteok is one of South Korea’s latest gastronomical delights, proving itself once again as one of the heavens of tasty street foods!

Whether you’re curious about its taste or trying to fulfil your cravings for it, you’ve come to the right place. Thanks to the internet, you don’t have to fly all the way to Korea to enjoy this Korean delicacy. Here’s a quick guide on this trendy street food and how to make it at the comfort of your home! 

Jump to:

• What is sotteok?
• Who invented Sotteok Sotteok?
• Taste
• Calories
• Cooking Tips
• What to enjoy with?
• Sotteok (So-tteok So-tteok) | Tteokbokki Hot Dog Recipe
• Tteokbokki Hack – make it using Rice Paper

What is sotteok?

“Sotteok” is actually a portmanteau of “so” from “sausage” and “tteok” from “garaetteok’ (rice cake). Having said that, this Korean street food dish consists of rice cakes and sausages on a skewer. 

As they are skewered in an alternating pattern, Koreans came up with a cute name for it; “So-tteok So-tteok”. However, they are also known as tteokbokki hot dogs and sausage tteokbokki skewers.  

Who invented Sotteok Sotteok?

Sotteok (tteokbokki hot dog) was apparently an invention of a Korean comedian, Lee YeongJa. She introduced it in one of her TV shows and since then, it became South Korea’s iconic street food.

Taste

This trendy Korean street food is famous for a reason; it is flavoursome. Often glazed with spicy sauce and drizzled with ketchup and mustard, it is sweet, tangy, and spicy. 

The outer part of the grilled tteok is crispy whereas the inside is soft and chewy. On the other hand, the sausages give off a juicy, slightly salty and smoky flavour. 

It is truly something that can satisfy your palate!

Calories

A serving of sotteok contains about 300 calories. It is not usually considered unhealthy but it does contain lots of carbs and fats. However, those with health and fitness goals can still enjoy this delicious snack in moderation. 

Cooking Tips

• Since tteokbokki cakes are sticky, the sauce can easily stick to them. But this is not the case for the sausages. Therefore, you can make tiny cuts on them so the sauce would stick better. 
• Use a pan that is wide enough for the skewers to lay flat on while grilling the sotteok. You can also trim your skewer if it is too long.
• The tteokbokki and sausages should be grilled on medium heat. To determine whether your tteokbokki are perfectly grilled, the outside should be crispy yet soft and bounces back when pressed. 
• If your tteokbokki and sausages are frozen, soak them in hot water for 10 minutes to soften them beforehand.

What to enjoy with?

The tteokbokki hot dog is usually enjoyed with a spicy gochujang sauce but you can totally make it non-spicy too. There is really no harm in glazing it with your personal favourite sauce too. If you prefer a sweet and tangy flavour for your so-tteok so-tteok, honey mustard would be perfect for it. 

We recommend going for both spicy and honey mustard sauces as they are an amazing combination for street food. Also, be sure to get a bite out of both the rice cake and sausage for the full experience!

Tteokbokki Hack – make it using Rice Paper

So you’re craving for so-tteok so-tteok but can’t find rice cakes at your local supermarkets? No worries, you can make tteokbokki out of rice papers! 4 sheets of rice paper can make one long rice cake. Square rice papers would be the best option but round rice papers would work as well. 

Making tteokbokki out of rice papers is honestly way easier than you think. Here’s how:

1. Dip rice papers in warm water and lay them flat on a plate/cutting board. Make sure to overlap them on top of one another instead of stacking them.
2. Wait until the rice papers get soggy and start rolling them bit by bit into a cylinder. Then, cut it into three pieces.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 until you get the desired amount of ‘tteokbokki’!

Once all of these are done, you can proceed with the usual steps of making sotteok!

You can also refer to Hibiscus Studio Seoul’s Youtube video on how they prepared their Korean hot dog and tteokbokki using round rice papers. They show the preparation of the tteok in detail, so do check out their video!

[Taechelin Guide] How To Make "Sausage Rice Cake Skewer" l Sotteok Sotteok : 소떡소떡 l Korean Food

How did your homemade sotteok turnout? Share with us a photo of your street food masterpiece by tagging us on Instagram @honestfoodtalks! We would love to see your delicious tteokbokki hot dog skewers!

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Your Korean street food experience would not be complete if you only had one snack! Complete your at-home experience by preparing another tasty street snack recipe: Korean Fried Corn Dog!