Gwangju tteokgalbi doesn’t have any rice cake. Its small profile makes it child-friendly and easy to pick up with chopsticks. (Tammy Quackenbush photos)

Many consider Seoul, the capital of Korea for more than 600 years, to be the culinary hub of Korea. However, South Korea’s sixth-largest city, Gwangju, also has ample cuisine cred.

Located in the middle of Jeolla-nam province near the southwestern tip of the Korean peninsula, Gwangju has a 2,000-year history traced to the Three Kingdom period. More recently, the city become internationally known due to events of May 18, 1980, known as the Gwangju Democratization Movement.

While Americans in the Pacific Northwest were fleeing the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, hundreds, even thousands of South Koreans half a world away were standing up to a military dictatorship. The government response was swift and brutal. Korean special forces soldiers shot unarmed civilians with automatic weapons. The people of Gwangju fought back, but the bad guys won — for a while.

Gwangju is also known for a dish called 떡갈비 tteokgalbi (Korean “hamburger” beef patties). There’s an entire street of restaurants dedicated to this fun, easy dish. Don’t let the name fool you, there’s no 떡 tteok (rice cake) in this recipe. And the dish isn’t the similarly sounding 닭갈비 dakgalbi, a spicy chicken dish that’s a specialty of Chuncheon.

Tteokgalbi is low-carb and kid-friendly.

Gwangju Tteokgalbi

May 19, 2011

by Tammy

Category Korean Food 101 Korean Recipes Recipes Top Posts Top Posts - Winter

Low-carb Korean dish that kids love

Persons

4

Serving Size

1 patty

Ingredients

• 1 small Onion, diced
• 1/4 cup Pear (European or Asian), mince
• 1 Carrot, grated
• 3 Green Onions, finely diced
• 1 Tbsp Garlic, minced
• 1 tsp Ginger, minced
• 1 lbs. Ground Beef, preferably from the ribs (or 1/2 pound beef, 1/2 pound pork)
• 1/4 cup [amazon_link id="B003XDIU30" target="_blank" ]Soy Sauce[/amazon_link]
• 11/2 Tbsp Sugar
• 2 Tbsp Honey
• 1 Tbsp [amazon_link id="B005PNMTEW" target="_blank" ]Sesame Oil[/amazon_link]
• 1 Tbsp [amazon_link id="B007C639E4" target="_blank" ]Soju[/amazon_link]
• 1/2 tsp Black Pepper
• 1 Tbsp [amazon_link id="B001FB69US" target="_blank" ]Mirin[/amazon_link]

Instructions

1. Put the first four ingredients (onion, pear, carrot and green onion) in a food processor and grind them to a paste. Mix the paste, minced garlic and minced ginger with the ground beef.
2. In a separate bowl, combine all the marinade ingredients, and mix half of it with the ground beef.
3. Once the marinade is mixed into the beef, allow the mixture to sit and mingle, covered in your refrigerator for 30 minutes.
4. Form the mixture into golf ball-sized portions, and shape them into square or sausage shapes (like tteok).
5. Pour 1 tablespoon of grapeseed or other high-temperature oil into a skillet. Fry the tteokgalbi on medium heat until they are completely cooked. Brush the reserved marinade on the tteokgalbi as it cooks.

Nutrition Facts

Gwangju Tteokgalbi

Serves: 4-6 patties

Amount Per Serving: 1 patty
Calories		364
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 24 g		36.9%
	Saturated Fat	0
	Trans Fat
Cholesterol		0
Sodium		0
Total Carbohydrate		0
	Dietary Fiber	0
	Sugars
Protein

Vitamin A		Vitamin C
Calcium		Iron

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

ZenKimchi

Tags

beef,

ddeokgalbi,

hamburger,

tteokgalbi

https://zenkimchi.com/korean-food-101/recipe-gwangju-tteokgalbi/

You can stick the patties into pita pockets with a little ssamjang-spiked mayo and kimchi for a fusion sandwich treat, or eat them Korean-style with rice, lettuce and side dishes.