Happy New Year, FHews readers! Did you enjoy your New Year’s Eve? Whether you had a delicious dinner with your family and friends, made new year’s resolutions, or watched ‘Dinner for One’—a beloved Silvester tradition in Germany—I hope you had a wonderful celebration.

And here is how Koreans deliciously welcome the New Year. In Korean tradition, eating ‘Tteok Mandu Guk’ on New Year’s Day is believed to bring good luck and symbolize the gaining of a year in age. ‘Tteok Mandu Guk’ is a traditional Korean soup that combines two popular elements of Korean cuisine: ‘Tteok’ (rice cakes) and ‘Mandu’ (dumplings). This hearty soup is often enjoyed on special occasions, especially on January 1st and during the Korean New Year (Seollal). Due to its features of chewy rice cakes and savory dumplings in a delicious broth, it has become a popular choice for both special events and regular meals. The method of making this soup may vary slightly depending on the ingredients used in the soup and the garnish to be placed. I’m sharing with you how to make it easily with ingredients available in Germany.

Cooking time / Number of portions: 1 hour / 6 servings

Ingredients:

  • 1 pack of (pre-sliced, oval-shaped) Rice cakes
  • 2 packs of (pre-cooked, frozen) Dumplings
  • 1 Minutensteak
  • 6 Eggs
  • 2 packs of (roasted, seasoned) Seaweed snacks
  • 2 Carrots
  • 2 Green onions
  • Half a clove of Garlic
  • Sugar
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Anchovy sauce
  • Soy sauce

Instructions:

Prep Rice cakes

Defrost frozen rice cakes by soaking in cold water for 10-15 minutes.

Prep Garnishes

  1. Slice Minutensteak into thin strips. Heat plenty of oil in a pan, add the minced garlic, three tablespoons of soy sauce and a tablespoon or two of sugar. Stir-fry with the meat until the soy sauce simmers.
  2. Separate the egg whites from the yolks and beat each one. Heat a pan and add a pinch of oil. Make a thin, crepe-like egg pancakes (each by color) and slice into thin strips.
  3. Shred the carrots.

Make Broth

  1. Boil 3 liters of water with two spoons of anchovy sauce, salt, pepper, and minced garlic (Adjust the portion to taste) in a large pot.
  2. When the water boils, add shredded green onion, the bag of rice cakes and the two bags of frozen dumplings. Simmer until the broth thickens, about 4-5 minutes.
  3. Season the broth in between, adding salt, pepper, or soy sauce to taste.

Serve

  1. Serve the desired amount of soup with rice cakes and dumplings in a bowl.
  2. Garnish with meat strips, egg strips, shredded carrots and crush the seaweed snacks with your hands. Sprinkle on top.
  3. Enjoy!