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Table Manners

 

 

 

Definition

 

Rice cakes are largely categorized into four kinds of the steamed rice cake in an earthenware steamer, the pounded rice cake using pounding board or mortar after steaming, the pan-fried rice cake using cooking oil and the rice cake boiled in boiling water and taken out. The basic type of rice cake is the steamed rice cake in an earthenware steamer as it is the oldest method of making rice cake.

 

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The steamed rice cake is called “Sirutteok (earthenware steamer rice cake)” in other words. Rice or glutinous rice are put into water for a while, grind it, put the rice powder in an earthenware steamer and steam it, and depending on the method of steaming the steamed rice cake is again divided into steamed rice cake (“Seolgitteok” or “Muritteok”) and rice cake with multiple plies (“Kyeotteok”).
“Seolgitteok” is the most basic rice cake which is steamed as one big lump in an earthenware steamer while “Kyeotteok” is steamed in multiple plies in an earthenware steamer using red beam topping as dividers.
Main ingredients for the steamed rice cake are rice or glutinous rice but sometimes rice and glutinous rice are mixed while other grains or beans such as red bean, bean, mung-bean, sesame, wheat, and starch are used for mixing in some cases. As subsidiary ingredients, fruits and nuts such as chestnut, date, pine nut, persimmon, walnut, peach or apricot are used and sometimes Ostericum grosseserratum leaves, manna lichen, radish, artemisia, pepper and wine are used while honey and sugar are used as sweeteners.

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To make pounded rice cake, grains are peeled off to make the state of grain particle or powder, steam it in an earthenware steamer and pound it in a mortar or pounding board. Rice cakes such as white rice cake, patterned rice cake, “Charyunbyeong (wheel patterned rice cake),” “Gaepitteok (rice cake stuffed with bean paste)”, “Injeolmi (rice cake coated with bean powder)” and “Danjas (glutinous rice cake coated with bean paste)” are the pounded rice cake. The pounded rice cake is divided into glutinous pounded rice cake and non-glutinous pounded rice cake depending on the kind of rice used as main material. The representative one among the glutinous pounded rice cake is “Injeolmi”, which is again divided into red bean “Injeolmi” and sesame “Injeolmi” depending on the kinds of topping for coating on the surface. And depending on the subsidiary ingredients to mix in the rice, it is divided into Artemisia “Injeolmi” and marsh plant “Injeolmi.”

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Pan-fried rice cake is made by kneading glutinous rice powder, making certain shapes and pan-frying it with cooking oil, and Jeonbyeong (pancake), Hwajeon (pan-fried flower shaped rice cake), Juak (pan-fried rice cake) and Bukkumi (pan-fried rice cake mixed with various flowers) are the kinds of pan-fried rice cake.
Hwajeon is made by making flat and round shape of kneaded glutinous rice powder and pan-fry it after putting petal like topping. There are different kinds of hwajeons are available by season; azalea Jeon and pear flower Jeon in spring, rose Jeon in early summer and mums Jeon and cockscomb Jeon in autumn.
Juak is made by putting the stuffing made of sesame, dried persimmon, citron shreds in the kneaded glutinous rice powder and pan-frying it using cooking oil after making shape like pebbles. Ostericum grosseserratum “Juak,” ginkgo nut “Juak,” date “Juak” and manna lichen “Juak” are the kinds of pan-fried rice cake.
Bukkumi is made by soaking glutinous rice, glutinous broomcorn and mung-bean, grinding and kneading it, pan-frying it and then folding it like half moon after putting stuffing in it. Glutinous rice Bukkumi, broomcorn Bukkumi and cassia tora Bukkumi are the kinds of pan-fried rice cakes.

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Boiled rice cake is made by kneading glutinous rice but sometimes it is made by cutting in the shape of Juak or Yakgwa (oil-and-honey pastry) or sometimes in the form of rice cake with a hole in a center, boiling and taking out and coating it with bean powder. Gyeongdans (dumpling coated with bean paste), Danjas (glutinous rice cake coated with bean powder), Japgwabyeongs (rice cake with stuffing of various fruits), Soibaekja, Sanyakbyeong (yam cake with honey) and Pungsobyeong (glutinous rice cake with wheat-gluten) are the kinds of boiled rice cake. Main ingredients of boiled rice cake is glutinous rice and sometimes other grains and beans such as buckwheat, yum, bean, red bean or sesame are mixed with glutinous rice. Subsidiary ingredients used are persimmon, chestnut, walnut, ginger, cassia bark or dried clove buds.