Jihae Kwon is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
Tteokppokki is the most popular street food that South Korea is known for. You can see young school kids, the elderly and everyone in between lined up at small kiosks, tarp-covered stands, and at restaurants waiting to eat this chewy, spicy, comforting dish. It also comes in many variations with ramen noodles, ultra-processed mozzarella cheese (it’s good– trust me), extreme spice levels, etc. I will be sharing with you the most common version you will find in Korea.
Tteokppokki is well-rounded: sweet, spicy and salty all work together in harmony and one flavor doesn’t overpower the others.
Start by gathering all of the tools and ingredients.
Boil water in the heavy bottom pot.
Clean the dried anchovies by removing the head and guts. Place the cleaned anchovies to the tea filter ball and place into the heavy bottom pot. Boil for 20 minutes.
While the water is transforming into a beautiful, umami rich stock, chop the green onion, cabbage and fishcakes. Cabbage is something my family has always added to our tteokppokki and I really love the added crunch and sweetness, but it’s not something you see often. Fishcake is almost always used in tteokppokki, but I’m near positive it is not what most would consider “keto-friendly.” I add a few slices and say YOLO, but if you are practicing “strict keto” I think that any thinly sliced cuts of protein would be great– beef, pork, chicken, good quality hot dog even. Set aside.
Remove the tea filter ball and add the keto gochujang, Lakanto Classic, coconut aminos, gochugaru to taste, until it becomes a smooth sauce. If you’d like a thicker consistency, add the tiniest bit of xanthan gum, about 1/32 tsp. Add the cabbage and fishcakes if you please and cook until desired doneness– I like my cabbage quite crunchy, so I don’t cook it for too long. Take it off the heat and set it aside.
Set the stove to med-high and place a generous amount of oil to the bottom of the non-stick pan. Place the keto rice cakes in the pan leaving a bit of space between each rice cake and leave it alone for at least one minute or until the rice cake lifts from the pan easily and has developed nice browning. Crowding the pan will create steam which prevents browning from happening and browning is flavor. If you go to flip the rice cake and you feel any resistance, leave it alone! This may take a couple batches if you are using a smaller pan. Brown the keto Korean rice cakes on as many sides as you have the patience for, but minimum two. Place the rice cakes on a serving plate. Try one now while it’s super hot. So good.
Bring the sauce back to desired temperature and then gently pour it over the rice cakes on the serving plate. Garnish with green onions, sesame seeds and a hard or soft boiled egg if you’d like and that’s it! You’re done!
These days in Korea you will often find tteokppokki served with ramen noodles, jjolmyeon noodles, ultra-processed mozzarella cheese (Don’t use the good stuff! Trust me!), etc. Keto glass noodles are a great substitute for jjolmyeon noodles and lucky for us, mozzarella is a go on keto! Good luck and enjoy! – Jihae
1. Watch The Magic Pill available on Netflix and Amazon Video! A great overview of why the ketogenic diet makes sense.
2. Don’t worry about caloriesfor now. You’re learning lots of new stuff and integrating a ton of new habits. Just worry about your net carb intake which is a great segue to the next tip.
3. Keep net carbsunder 20g.carbohydrates – fiber = net carbs. Take a look at the nutritional label on your packaged foods. Subtract fiber from your carbohydrates to get your net carbs– keep this under 20g. I don’t track the carbs in leafy greens, but you may want to starting out. This will help you become more aware of the macronutrient composition of different foods. Nutritional facts for foods without labels, which would ideally be the majority of your diet, can usually be found with a simple google search: “spinach nutritional facts.” Apps like MyFitnessPal have a pretty good database, but can be inaccurate sometimes as anyone is able to add data. I would recommend staying away from things that contain high sugar alcohols, but if you must, these can also be subtracted along with fiber from your total carbohydrates to calculate your net carbs.
4. I recommend everyone to track macros, short for macronutrients, (fats, proteins, and carbohydrates) when you’re starting, just so you can see what your portions should look like. This calculator from ruled.me is great to help you determine how much of each macronutrient you should be eating. The typical breakdown of a ketogenic diet in percentages are 75% fat, 20% protein, and 5% carbohydrates. Don’t worry about meeting your fat macros unless you are getting hungry between meals.
5. Don’t cheat for the first two weeks. I find that when I tell people to not cheat for two weeks, they usually are just fine and continue to stay on plan for much longer because by now their cravings are gone! Gimme two weeks! You can do it!
6. Avoid the keto flu! Keep your electrolytes up (magnesium, potassium, sodium)! The keto flu is ROUGH! My boyfriend’s mom was very excited to start keto and jumped right into it before doing too much research and was hit hard. She is a tough lady, but this really knocked her off her feet and had her feeling like death for a few days before we figured out why. A little concoction of the above mentioned electrolytes had her feeling back to normal almost immediately.
7. Know yourself. Are you a live to eat or eat to live type? If you’re an eat to live typemeaning, you don’t LOVE food passionately, you don’t plan your vacations around restaurants, think about what to eat for dinner as you’re eating your lunch, cross reference google reviews with yelp to find THE BEST, MOST AUTHENTIC omakase experience, this is you. Find 1-3 recipes that you know you’ll love that are quick and easy. May I suggest, bacon, eggs, avocado and spinach as one of those meals? Cook up some bacon, remove from the pan, fry your eggs in your bacon drippings, remove the eggs, and wilt your spinach in any residual drippings left in the pan.. or don’t and eat it fresh like a salad. Top it all with some avocado and there you have the easiest, most classic, keto meal ever. Satisfying and simple. Feeling fancy? Sprinkle Trader Joe’s Everything But the Bagel Seasoning over your avocado!
If you are a passionate foodie like myself, find 1-3 quick and easy recipes and a 1-3 recipes that get you excited! I find that if you find a few recipes from the same region of the world, you will have more overlap in ingredients which I find is a great way to avoid waste and mostly-full-containers of sauce taking up space in your pantry. The best part for me is that it’s an incredibly immersive experience that promotes understanding, appreciation and love for another cuisine. I love it. The great news is almost everything can be ketofied, but it does usually take a little more time, so have a few quick and easy recipes in your repertoire for busier days! I would not suggest buying 25 new “keto products” as soon as you start, but rather buying them slowly as you go.
If you know you have a sweet tooth, perhaps pick up a few treats to help you through the cravings. My favorites are sugar free gummies from Smart Sweets, Lily’s Chocolates and Zevia, stevia-sweetened soda. Not all sweets labeled “sugar-free” are created equal as many contain ingredients that’ll spike your blood sugar and/or give you constipation (ie. maltitol). There are a TON of keto dessert recipes on the internet! Most use coconut flour or almond flour and some keto-approved sweetener. My all time favorite sweetener is by Lakanto. I use both their classic and golden which are like white sugar and brown sugar respectively. You might also be interested in “Fat Bombs” which are usually small sweet treats with the purpose of keeping you satiated until your next meal.
If you are busy person, meal prepping for the week might be for you! Cook up a big batch breakfast casserole or keto lasagna and put them in containers for the week. Keep them in your refrigerator and a few in your freezer to ensure freshness.
8. Focus on what you can eat instead of what you cannot eat. This lifestyle has worked for me because even as a passionate foodie, it honestly feels like I have no restrictions when I think about all of the incredible foods I am able to eat. Anything I crave can probably be ketofied with the exception of fruits, but get creative! You might be surprised with what you can come up with that’ll satisfy that craving.
9. Throw out all processed foods that are full of sugar and carbs. Get em out of your house! If you live with others who will not be joining you on this way of life, perhaps have a designated area for these things– most preferably out of sight! Bye Felicia!
10. Community! I heard in a podcast by Max Lugavere that the reason why so many people find success with Weight Watchers is the community aspect. I really don’t know much about WW, but I imagine that they meet up once in a while, encourage and support one another– have conversations about what’s been difficult for them and celebrate each others’ successes. If you don’t have someone in your physical world that’ll join you or support you on your ketogenic journey, you might find community in online forums on Facebook or Instagram like I have! I think the keto community is one of the best– they know what it’s like to struggle, feel alone and unhealthy, and also know how amazing it is to reach those mini-goals so they will cry with you and rejoice with you and it is amazing. If you would like to connect on Instagram, you can find me at @jihaesketokitchen!
BONUS! If you fall off track, just get right back on. Don’t beat yourself up and don’t feel guilty. You made a choice and those choices have consequences, hopefully it was so delicious and totally worth it, but if it wasn’t, what’s done is done and wallowing in these negative feelings is counterproductive and may even send you spiraling out of control. “I already messed up, what’s the point?” is a feeling I’m all too familiar with that’s only ever slowed my progress. Weight loss over time looks like peaks and valleys, with a downward trend. Maybe that cheat meal made your weight peak a little.. that’s okay!
It can even be a very conscious decision to eat “non-keto” and that’s okay too, although I only recommend this after being strict for the first few weeks (see tip 5). I have planned “non-keto” meals that probably kick me out of ketosis because as a passionate foodie, I definitely knew I was not going to leave Paris without eating a croissant from a boulangerie pâtisserie. #foodfreedom #worthit
Jihae Kwon is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
Ingredients 5 lbs Korean radish 15 cloves of garlic 4 tbsp Korean fermented shrimp 1 tbsp Korean fermented shrimp brine 1 tbsp fish sauce 1/2 c Korean dried chili flakes 6 tbsp Lakanto Classic or Golden 1/2 tsp salt 1″ knob of ginger 5 oz garlic chives
Jihae Kwon is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
You may have tried radish kimchi or what we like to call kkakdugi (double-k in the beginning represents a stronger, almost g-like sound) at your favorite Korean restaurants. I think the restaurants that serve the best kkakdugi are the ones that specialize in sullungtang (ox bone soup) because one can not fully enjoy sullungtang without well-made kkakdugi! The rich, yet simple and subtle flavor of ox bones simmered for hours pairs perfectly with the bold, acidic, fermented goodness that is kkakdugi.
If you’re following a ketogenic lifestyle, this combination is perfect– gut healthy bone broth and fermented radish kimchi. Lucky for you both are very easy! If you’d like a detailed recipe on sullungtang let me know.
Make it paleo or Whole 30 compliant simply by replacing the Lakanto with a Korean pear, also known as Asian pear, or a sweet, crisp apple such as the fuji or honey crisp variety. Place your fruit of choice in the blender and measure out 1/2 cup.
Let’s begin with a clean, empty sink, and cleared countertop. Gather all of your ingredients and tools.
Wash your radish and chives to remove any dirt. Carefully go through the Chives and remove any wilted pieces and tear off any dried bits.
Remove and discard 1.5″ from the top of your chives and 1″ from the bottom. Chop the chives into 1.5″ pieces. Use your mortar and pestle to smash your garlic and your ginger or chop finely using a knife.
Remove the top and bottom of the radish carefully. Peel the radish. If the radish is too large to hold in one hand, stand it up on the wider, flat side you just created and peel by running the vegetable peeler downwards. Remove any ugly bits with a v-shaped incision. Give the radish another rinse.
Carefully slice the radish into 1.5″ thick rounds. Stack about 2-3 rounds and cut them into thick 1.5″ strips, rotate the radish and cut them roughly into 1.5″ cubes. Do this until all of the radish is cubed.
Now add all of your ingredients into a very big bowl, put on your disposable plastic gloves (Korean dried chili flakes stain everything!), and toss gently. When everything is well incorporated, you can put them in any clean containers you have available or you can wait. If you wait the radish will lose a bit of its integrity as the fish sauce and salted shrimp draws out the moisture from the radish, making it easier to fit more into the containers. The warmer the weather, the more quickly the radish will lose water, so let it sit somewhere between 30-60 minutes. Place everything including the liquid into your containers and set them on the counter to ferment. Again, the warmer the weather, the more quickly it will ferment, but 2-4 days is typically a good timeframe.
You may also eat the kkakdugi fresh which is a totally different experience. Fresh kkakdugi pictured above leads with sweet and has a crunchier texture.
After three days on the counter my kkakdugi transformed into a beautiful probiotic-rich side dish. It is now an enticing, tangy, bold, juicy, complex bite– ready to add vibrancy to any meal.
Store your fermented kkakdugi in the refrigerator. It will continue to ferment and become more acidic in flavor, but at a much slower rate.
Signs of fermentation include bubbling along the lines of liquid, an intense aroma when opening the container (the smell definitely slaps you in the face, but you might learn to love it lol), and the cubes of radish have shrunken and become slightly translucent.
Ideas on how to enjoy kkakdugi: Aside from sullungtang, kkakdugi also accompanies heavier meals beautifully. Similar to the way a pickle can cut the heaviness of a delicious burger, kkakdugi gives the palate a bright break from a fatty keto meal. I especially love it with chicken wings! It’s also great with bacon and eggs, keto pizza, juicy steaks and even burgers. Honestly! Enjoy and good luck! -Jihae
Ingredients 3 tbsp avocado oil 2 medium yellow onions 1 red bell pepper 10 garlic cloves 2 tbsp cumin 1-3 tsp cayenne 2 lbs ground beef (80/20) salt & pepper to taste 28 oz canned tomatoes 14 oz canned tomato sauce
Accoutrements cheddar cheese pickled jalapenos sour cream green onion red onion avocado
Tools Instant Pot -or- pan & crockpot spatula cutting board chef’s knife can opener
Jihae Kwon is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
No Instant Pot? No problem. Scroll down to see the pan & crockpot method marked with an asterisk (*).
Let’s start our cooking adventure with a clean, empty sink, and cleared countertop. Gather all of your ingredients and tools.
Chop the yellow onion and red bell pepper medium-dice and garlic finely. Set them aside.
Open the canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, and have avocado, cumin, cayenne and ground beef on hand.
Plug in the Instant Pot and turn on the sauté function and add avocado oil. When the oil begins to glisten, add the onions, garlic, bell pepper and season with salt and pepper.
Once the aromatics are translucent and soft, add the cumin and cayenne and let the spices bloom.
Add the ground beef and break apart with a spatula. Add the canned tomatoes and canned tomato sauce. Give it a quick stir, secure the lid, turn the dial to sealing and press the bean/chili function.
Now we wait let the Instant Pot do its job and prepare the accoutrements. Because the onion will be raw, I like to do a fine dice, chop the green onions, shred the cheese and either dice or slice the avocado. I think a large-dice is nice for a creamier mouth-feel, but an avocado fan makes for a pretty picture, so that’s what I did. #bloglife
Now, I’m still not super familiar with the Instant Pot, but I do know that after it says it’s finished, it’s never actually finished unless you want to make a big, wet mess in your kitchen, so wait until the small silver valve next to the sealing/venting dial settles back down. This valve rises with pressure and settles as pressure is gradually released. If you really can’t wait, I don’t blame you– the smells are tempting. Put the Instant Pot under the hood and on the stovetop. Turn on the fan, switch the dial on your Instant Pot to venting and watch the steam being sucked up and away. The valve should settle down into its nest and you should be able to remove the lid easily.
*No Instant Pot? Sauté the onions, bell peppers, garlic, seasonings, and ground beef in a pan. Transfer everything to a crockpot and add in the canned tomatoes and tomato sauce. Cook on medium over night (8-10 hours).
This is a hearty, delicious meal that really satisfies your belly during the cold winter months. Enjoy and good luck! -Jihae
Ingredients 16 oz pork belly 1 tsp salt 5 cups fermented kimchi* 1-1.5 kimchi brine (juice) 1 tbsp sesame oil 1-2 tbsp Lankanto Sweetener* ½ medium onion 3 garlic cloves 4 green onions 12in2 dried kelp/kombu (다시마) 5-10 dried anchovies 4 cups of water
Optional gochugaru* 1-2 green Korean chili shirataki noodles* spice bag or strainer/skimmer
Tools & Utensils chef’s knife cutting board heavy bottom pot spatula chopsticks or tongs
Place your mouse over ingredients with an asterisk (*) for my added notes.
Let’s start our cooking adventure with a clean, empty sink, and cleared countertop. It’s a good idea to chop veggies before meats so that the cutting board won’t have to be washed as often.
Slice onions thinly, mince the garlic cloves, chop the green onions and Korean green chilies, and set these aside.
Clean the anchovies by removing the heads and guts and place them in a spice bag to make it easier to remove them from the soup later, or leave them as-is and set aside with the dried kelp.
Next, slice the pork belly into bite size pieces. These can be purchased pre-sliced from most Asian grocers. Be careful, some come with the skin attached and if you aren’t into that (like me), then double-check the sticker. Pork butt (which is actually the pig’s shoulders, not it’s booty), pork shoulder or sometimes called pork shoulder butt (lol) can be used instead, but the more fat the better. After all, fat is flavor, and fat is fuel.
Unless you want kimchi brine everywhere, slice the kimchi last. We are going to be cooking the kimchi soon after the pork so don’t be too concerned about cross contamination. Gently squeeze out the liquid (so it’s not running all over your counter) and slice the kimchi into bite size pieces against the grain of the cabbage. If your kimchi is pre-sliced, skip this step.
Now heat up the heavy bottom pot or earthenware bowl on medium-high. Once it’s hot, add the pork belly and season with salt. I like to take care here and place them nicely so they have a little room—this will prevent steam from being trapped and for more browning to take place, an extra layer of flavor. Also, please leave your pork belly alone for a good minute or two and refrain from stirring wildly and instead use tongs or chopsticks. When the meat releases easily from the pot, admire the beauty that you created which is perfectly browned pork belly, and flip it over to brown the other side. Remember to control your heat to avoid burning and brown as many sides as you have the patience for. You do not have to cook the pork belly all the way through because we will be boiling everything later.
By now you should have a pool of shiny pork fat and bits of sucs (fancy French term to describe the brown bits at the bottom of the pot or pan after sautéing, searing or pan-frying). Lucky you—this is really good stuff.
Turn the heat to medium-low and carefully add the kimchi (you don’t want the hot pork fat to splash you!), 1 tbsp of Lankanto*, sesame oil and gochugaru if you like it extra spicy. Stir fry the kimchi until they lose their integrity just slightly. Bonus points if you get some brown bits on the kimchi! Add the onion and garlic and toss for just a bit. It should smell like a party by now—tangy, savory, and slightly nutty from the sesame oil.
Next we are going to deglaze all of the sucs that has developed on your pot with Kimchi brine and water. Add the dried anchovies and kelp. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat to simmer. After 15 minutes remove the dried kelp to avoid bitterness. Let simmer for an additional 30 minutes or so to let all of the gorgeous flavors meld together.
Before serving, remove the anchovies—if you don’t have a spice bag, then use a skimmer or chopsticks to fish them out. If you forget one or two, that’s okay. They’re totally edible and are great sources of protein and calcium. TASTE—ALWAYS TASTE and add the remainder of the Lankanto Sweetener, if too acidic, and salt as needed. Add a sprinkle of green onion and Korean green chili on top and serve. Adding the chilies at the end will give a cooling sensation as you sip the stew.
Good luck and please enjoy one of my very favorite childhood dishes.
If you’re short on time: Throw everything in the pot except the Korean green chili and green onion. Boil for 15 minutes. Remove the kelp and boil for 20 additional minutes. Garnish with Korean green chili and green onions. It will be delicious, and you will love it.
Traditionally kimchi jjigae includes squares of medium firm tofu and eaten with a bowl of rice.
For the first time in my life, I have a waist. I have knuckles instead of marshmallows. When I stretch out my fingers, I can actually see my knuckles, instead of dimples. I can also see a bone on the side of my wrist that I haven’t seen before… I think I like it. I have the slightest, teeniest tiniest shadow running down the middle of my stomach. I have energy. I feel motivated. I am joyful. I am alive! But… it wasn’t always like this.
I was 30 years old and I wasn’t where I wanted to be in my life – physically, mentally, emotionally. I felt worn down from all the dietary trends, health “tips”, and misleading information over the past 20 years. It didn’t seem like any progress was being made. Then, one night I was listening to Dr. Berg and he said “It’s get healthy to lose weight – not lose weight to get healthy.” My boyfriend responded “Yeah, that makes sense.” My boyfriend of 6 years, who is one of the most skeptical people I know – within reason (maybe… sometimes) just gave his endorsement to someone talking about health, one of many topics he’s been very critical of because of the amount of misinformation that gets spread. He later added that he liked that Dr. Berg wasn’t trying to sell anything, that he was just sharing facts. My boyfriend’s vote of confidence encouraged me to continue listening to Dr. Berg. In March 2018, I began to incorporate Dr. Berg’s teachings into our diet and we began to realize the benefits of following a ketogenic diet. I have never felt better!
I’m on a journey to being the healthiest, happiest person I can be. I don’t want to sell you anything. It’s been a long, winding road with lots of misdirection up to this point and I thought it might be nice to help make it shorter for others by sharing what’s worked for me and what hasn’t. Don’t get me wrong – I haven’t figured it all out. There’s going to be trial and error, but I think I’m heading in the right direction. I’ve learned LOTS from Dr. Berg, and highly encourage you to hear what he has to say; spoiler alert: it’s really valuable information… for free.
One crucial aspect of my journey is going to be what I put in my body. I chronicle this on my IG @jihaekwon_. I love cooking and eating delicious food, and want to share my joy with you.
