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 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
