Simple Yet Delicious, Remarkable Little Ones
On days when you've had a tough day, days when you don't feel like cooking, or days when you open the rice cooker only to find no rice left, you head to the convenience store. Once inside, without wandering off to other corners, you walk straight to the tteokbokki section. After scanning the neatly lined-up cup tteokbokki, you buy tteokbokki, cheese, sausage, and triangular gimbap to enjoy a feast. Today, I’d like to introduce the elite members among the many convenience store tteokbokki that satisfied my taste buds. If you’re thinking of stopping by a convenience store to buy tteokbokki on your way home from work, refer to this article.
Maekkal Eomuk Tteokbokki
Maekkal Eomuk Tteokbokki sold at GS25. It consists of powdered sauce, vacuum-packed bite-sized fish cakes, and tteokbokki rice cakes (made from rice). After putting the ingredients into the container, pour hot water and cook it in the microwave. Before adding the powder, I smelled it and found the scent closer to spicy ramen soup than tteokbokki.
The broth color was much more intimidating than I expected, and the container had a phrase saying “The sharp and clean spiciness of Cheongyang chili powder,” which made me worried, but it was only slightly spicier than Shin Ramyun. It’s a spicy tteokbokki flavor with a strong pepper taste rather than sweet and sticky! It seemed like it would go well with cheese too?a deliciously spicy tteokbokki. What was most impressive was the taste and texture of the fish cake. I confidently recommend this flavor to fish cake enthusiasts who have been disappointed by fish cakes that taste fishy or just like flour. It’s thick and chewy with excellent texture.
One-line review Goodbye to the days I was sad about mediocre fish cake tteokbokki. As a convenience store fish cake tteokbokki nomad, I’m settling here from today.
Wang Twigim Spicy Noodle Tteokbokki
Next is CU’s Wang Twigim Spicy Noodle Tteokbokki. The container is decorated here and there with a cute princess Ticon illustration. The components include noodle tteok, powdered soup, dried ingredient soup, and round twigim (fried snack). It’s unique because it contains pre-cooked twigim. After cooking, gently place the palm-sized round twigim on top, and the twigim tteokbokki is complete.
As someone who has eaten countless tteokbokki over many years, let me say this... tteokbokki with noodle tteok is usually, really usually good. These admirable convenience store noodle tteokbokki usually have a spicy and sweet flavor, and this one is no exception. Compared to the thick noodle tteokbokki sold at GS25, this one is slightly spicier with added curry aroma. The twigim had a strong seafood flavor and smelled oily, but when soaked in the broth, it blended well. The combination of tteokbokki and twigim is always right.
One-line review It’s a bit intense in flavor. Using two-thirds of the powdered soup would be better.
Mimine Broth Tteokbokki
That tteokbokki I accidentally tasted on the set of ‘Editor’s Convenience Store Home Drinking Item’ and was instantly amazed by?Mimine Broth Tteokbokki. It contains rice cakes, sauce, small twigim, and a whole boiled egg. The small twigim and boiled egg are the key points. Put all ingredients except the small twigim into the container, add hot water, and microwave.
Carefully place the small twigim on top and add the halved boiled egg, and you get a visually stunning tteokbokki. Surprisingly, the taste is exactly like the tteokbokki you buy at a snack bar. It perfectly replicates the snack bar style broth tteokbokki! The rice cakes don’t have an alcoholic taste, and even without fish cakes, the twigim and egg make it feel very rich. The clean spicy flavor is not greasy and pairs wonderfully with sweet cheese balls or triangular gimbap.
One-line review When you’re too lazy to go to a snack bar, this is it. Don’t forget to buy tuna mayo triangular gimbap too.
Rose Buldak Tteokbokki
I’m not very fond of the Buldak series because I can’t handle spicy food well, but I enjoy Rose Buldak Tteokbokki. It’s simply composed of liquid sauce, a powder packet added after cooking, and rice cakes. After adding the rice cakes, sauce, and hot water, microwave it, then sprinkle the powder on top.
The amount of powder soup is quite a lot. After adding the white powder and stirring, the clear broth turned into a thick rose tteokbokki color. The broth had the distinctive flavor of Buldak sauce with a slightly salty cheese taste. It tasted similar to Carbonara Buldak Bokkeummyeon but was less greasy and a bit sweeter. I recommend this tteokbokki to those who like the Buldak series or miss the Buldak flavor but dislike overly spicy food. Since it only contains rice cakes, it would be even better with fried snacks or Vienna sausages on the side.
One-line review Rose sauce + a drop of Buldak sauce = the birth of K-Rose.
Photo by Kim Bomi
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