A traditional Korean New Year's rice cake soup with oxtail bone broth and optional added dumplings. The clear broth represents a clean start, and the coin-shaped rice cakes represent success in the year ahead!
Ingredients
3 lbs oxtails (soaked in cold water for 1+ hours, drained and refilled a few times (to release some of the blood))
10 cups water
6 stalks large green onions (separate white bulb and green stems, reserving the green ends for garnish)
6-8 cloves garlic (whole, peeled, and smashed a little)
1 piece dashima (sea kelp) (about 3×4″)
1 lb beef brisket (solid fat trimmed off, thinly sliced into ¼″ thickness by 3-4″ wide)
1 lb rice cakes (sliced diagonally into ¼″ coins, if frozen they should be soaked in cold water for 30 minutes and drained)
3 eggs yolks and whites divided
1 Tbsp olive oil
Optional Garnitures/Garnishes
40 pieces mini mandu (5 per serving, can be purchased frozen)
8 pinches toasted seaweed strips (gim) (can be purchased pre-cut)
Instructions
Drain oxtail and add to slow cooker along with the water, green onion bulbs, garlic and dashima, and slow cook for 8+ hours. If water level gets too low, add more in. (If you do this in an Instant Pot like I did, with the pressure cooker lid on, the water level won’t go down much if at all). Add the brisket for at least the last hour.
Scoop out and discard green onion, garlic, and dashima. Carefully remove and reserve oxtail bone until cool enough to handle. Remove just the meat and reserve until serving.
When preparing to eat, soak rice cakes in cold water for 20-60 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat a medium pot of water to boil. Separately, heat oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat until hot.
While the pan heats, in a medium bowl, whisk egg yolks with a teaspoon of water and pinch of salt. Add egg and lightly cook into one thin crepe. Move to a clean cutting board to cool for a few minutes. Roll and cut into thin strips, or try your hand at making any shape you like.
Add rice cakes into boiling water for 5 minutes, remove and set aside.
Bring water back to boil, then add frozen mandu for 3 minutes, then briefly drain in cold water.
While these are boiling, thinly slice green parts of green onion for garnish.
To plate: To a soup bowl, add a handful of rice cakes, a few mandu, slices of brisket, a large pinch of oxtail meat, and decorative egg yolk. Pour broth over. At the table, garnish with green onion and seaweed. Taste and adjust seasoning individually.
Recipe by Kimchi Curious at https://kimchicurious.com/recipes/i-made-my-first-tteokguk-twice/