The Korean beef side dish Tteok GalBi (떡갈비) is a very tasty dish that is a good representative of Korean food flavor. Tteok means sticky rice cakes and galbi is a marinated Korean meat dish. However, you will soon see that there are no sticky rice cakes in this recipe. So then, why it is called “Tteok Galbi?” The original Galbi dish uses beef or pork ribs. Tteok galbi has a similar taste with galbi; however, the texture is like sticky rice cakes because it has ground beef and other vegetables in it. Many people love bulgogi or galbi. The soy sauce and sweet flavor mixed with garlic, green onion, and sesame oil makes this dish very flavorful. This recipe can have a strong garlic or onion flavor, so if you don’t like them much, you can reduce the amount. It will be a good dish for a party.
Yield: 2 Dozen Pieces
Short Korean Lesson
- AhNae (아내) = Wife
- NamPyun (남편) = Husband
Video Instructions
⏰ The video for this recipe will be started at 0:20
Main Ingredients
- 1 lb Ground Beef
- 1 Small Size Onion
- 1 Carrot (2.5 oz)
- 3 Finely Chopped Green Onions
- 6 Garlic Cloves
Seasoning Ingredients
- 4 Tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1½ Tbsp Sugar
- 2 Tbsp Honey
- 1 Tbsp Sesame Oil
- ½ tsp Black Pepper
- 1 Tbsp Cooking Wine (Optional)
- ¼ tsp Salt (Optional)
Directions
Prepare 1 lb of ground beef.
Prepare 1 small onion, 1 carrot, and 6 garlic cloves. Chop the onion and carrot a little before grinding.
Grind the vegetables for few seconds in a food processor. We will grind them with the beef later, so they don’t have to be ground that fine.
Slowly add some of the ground beef and grind it until they become like dough.
The mixture is supposed to be like dough.
In a bowl, combine the meat mixture and all of the ingredients for the seasoning: 4 Tbsp of soy sauce, 1½ Tbsp of sugar, 2 Tbsp of honey, 1 Tbsp of sesame oil, ½ tsp of black pepper, 1 Tbsp of cooking wine (optional), and 3 finely chopped green onions.
Kneed all of the ingredients for about 2 minutes, this will help blend the various tastes together along with a consistent texture.
Take a golf ball sized piece of the beef mixture, make it round, and then flatten it.
In slightly oiled nonstick pan, place the tteok galbi. Fry it on medium. It is important not to cook it on high because it will burn very easily. Fry only one piece to taste test it. Try it, and depending on your taste, you can add ¼ tsp of salt as I did. It’s optional.
Once the juice comes out from the meat, flip it over and press it with a spatula. Reduce the temperature to medium-low.
Occasionally flip them over but not too often. Fry them until the both sides of the galbi become nicely browned. Fry them with patience: no high temperatures! 😉
If this recipe is too big for you to finish, freeze some as I did. It is good to use wax paper to keep them separated in the freezer bag.
Keep them in a freezer bag. When you eat them later, just take them out of the freezer and fry. In that case, start to cook at a low temperature and then, once the juice starts to come out, increase the temperature to medium.
These taste great with rice, but you can eat them with whatever you like. I’m thinking about putting some on my next salad. Enjoy!
Dear Bryson,
Can you please let me borrow a bib because your mommy’s dishes are making me drool. 😉
Thank you Bryon! Tell your mommy i miss her.
Love,
Arleen
hi farleen,
Of course I can share my bib with you since I really like you, arleen. 😉
My mom misses you too. hehe..
p.s Aha, mom said.. she is waiting for your entering in the contest. She wants to see your heart egg picture… =P
Aeri,
They look good!
Hi James,
Thank you !!! Aha.. I had a question.. somebody asked.. what is the English name for the part of beef we use for Galbi.. do you know the name ??? I thought you would know it.. hehe
It’s beef short rib, but I don’t know the English name for how you cut them to roll out like wang kalbi.
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hi Tamar,
aha..I got it.. thanks 🙂
Hi Aeri,
In case you don’t get a reply… the part of the beef we use for Galbi is short ribs 🙂 Thanks for the great recipes!!!
hi Lina,
hehe.. short ribs.. thanks 🙂
That part of the beef used for galbi is called short ribs. 🙂
hi Sonia,
hehe…many people answered to this question.. thanks 🙂 short ribs..I got it..
In that top picture, they’re shapped like long rice noodes (가래떡)
hi Tamar,
How are you??? Yes, my husband told me similar thing.. they looked like one piece…hehe
Aeri I believe the beef cut for galbi is korean beef shortribs.
By the way, I am cravign burgers so bad today and this is making me feel like making it tonight…
With hot rice…
maybe a bit of leftover curry…
hungry 😀
hi JT,
hehe.. thanks to you.. and other people..I could give a right answer for the name… If you make this..I hope you enjoy this.. thanks 🙂
It’s good to eat this beef short ribs with rice…It look so delicious and taste good….
hi Ashly,
I agree…hehe thanks 🙂
Hi Aeri,
Thanks for sharing this recipe. I just made a batch for tonight’s dinner. Made mine slightly smaller so had more than 24 patties.
You are so right about cooking it patiently, if not, the beef will burn.
Can’t wait to eat them tonight with rice! Yum.
hi Jenn,
Great !!! so did you enjoy your supper with your galbi ?? I’m sure you did…hehe thanks 🙂
Made this dish for my son and his friends, they loved it. Thank you for the recipe.
hi Mel,
Good job ~~~ 😉 Your son must be proud of you… hehe thanks for trying my recipe.
Hi Aeri chan,
I just tried this food
and followed your recipe
it is really fabulous and delicious
incredible, ^^
Thank you very much 😀
hi Hope,
Great !!! thanks 😀
hi Aeri!
I am in the process of making them right now…! ^^ so far so good> <
but are the Tteok Galbi supposed to have a sweeter taste then salty? thanks!! hehe
have a good day *^^*
hi Annie,
yes.. tteok galbi will have the combination of salty and sweet.. depending on how you like more.. you can make it sweeter..or saltier.. ^^ thanks
hola, muchas gracias por tus recetas e aprendido mucho, yo soy chilena pero mi marido es coreano , el esta mas feliz por que e aprendido,de verdad muchas gracias. Mary..
hi mary,
Gracias por su comentario. Utilicé el traductor para leer su comentario. Tenga un gran fin de semana.
hi aeri
was wondering if i can use a mixer instead of a food prosessor? since i don’t have one : ( will i get the same result using a mixer? let me know, and thanks for the great recipes always. keep up the great work and have a wonderful day^.^ <3 😀
hi tacoflavorkisses,
If your mixer grind things like food processor..try it.. ^^ thanks
This is such a yummy recipe! Thanks so much for sharing; my whole family loved it. I’m trying to learn some Korean recipes to put into my regular meal rotation. So far I am really enjoying your blog and trying out your recipes. Your instructions are so clear and easy to follow, the pictures really help too. Thanks again 😀
hi Elizabeth,
Thanks for your comment. Love to hear that you are into Korean food now. 🙂 hope to hear from you more in the future.
your recipes are so long that you need 9-to 10 pages just to print them out ,who wants to use all that print out paper for just one of your recipes, i would have to buy a box of a 100 or more ,what a waste i,ve never seen such a recipe as long as yours which stops me from making any of yours , i got off your sit and dont care what your making ,you should learn how we do it in the usa
hi judy,
I’m sorry to hear that you had problems to use my site. Personally I like lots of pictures for cookbooks .. or cooking blogs.. it’s more interesting to look at the recipes.. you can consider it as my style. Plus, when I consider some people who don’t know about Korean food at all.. I wanted them still can cook Korean food easily with my detailed pictures and instruction. That’s why I have my posts like that.. My posts are not planned for printing (which it will be good if I have separated printable recipes without pictures.. then you don’t have to print that many pages..) so.. you got the problems..I’ve never met you before, but I can feel you are angry at me or my blog… 🙁 We try to think of what you said to make a better site in the future.. thanks..and please come back ~~
I was curious and printed out the entire recipe including directions, and it came out to 5 pages. Granted, five pages is still a lot. However, if you’re really concerned about saving trees, then I suggest you take few seconds of your time and copy paste entire recipe in a Word file and delete all the pictures before printing. That’s how I do it, here, in the USA. Please be mindful of efforts put in by others and realize not everyone has to time and resources to accommodate everyones specific need. Particularly when there’s an easy fix. In fact, all you have to do is copy paste the entire recipe in a simple notepad and it wont even paste the pictures! Just print and it comes out to cool two pages 😛
hI David,
Thanks for your comment.. ^^
I think Judy is being unreasonable (and racist at the end). If she was eco-conscious, she wouldn’t be printing it out at all. If she wanted a hard copy, she could do as David said or she could write down the important parts on a scrap of paper.
For me, I use my iPad in the kitchen and Aeri, your website works great on it (just to let you know)!
I find it completely unreasonable that you are bashing Aeri because you don’t know how to copy and paste her recipes to a blank document to cut down on pages. I’ve been a fan of her recipes for a long while now and have been copying and printing these wonderful recipes, 1-2 each, since. Be considerate of the time and effort she has put in to share these with us. If you are just going to continue to be rude, then I suggest you find another site that is better suited for you, here in the USA.
If you don’t like it, then Stop being ignorant with your racist Induced comments and get offer page! You made this original comment years ago, but I was offended by what you wrote and it wasn’t even geared towards me… We are all human, all equal, so stop acting like you are above her with your “learn how we do it in the US” comment!!! As an American, we are not ignorant like you!!! Aeri, keep doing you girl!! Love your site!!! Saranghae!!!!! Fighting!!!
Personally, I like the pictures Aeri puts on the site. I often look at them WHILE I am cooking just to make sure. I hope you’ve fallen off your ecologically sanctimonious soapbox and biodegraded by now. Most of us who come here love Aeri and all the work she has done to bring Korean food closer to our dinner tables.
I was so thrilled to find your website. It has been such a blessing to me. My husband is Korean. Although he has been happy to eat American food, I know he was missing his Mother’s cooking. With your help, I have been able to do this.
This recipe is a favorite of his! Thanks again!
Julie
hi Julie,
I’m happy to hear that.. yes I miss Korean food a lot even I like American food..and I can make Korean food for myself.. so I can understand how your husband will be like… thanks.. make many delicious Korean food for him..and for you..^^
Hi Aeri unni,
I’ve always been a fan of your recipe webpage! I have many of your recipes bookmarked for me to try ^_^ I’ve never left any comments before, but I’ve tried this recipe today and it was really really great so I decided I needed to leave a comment! ^^ My friends and family loved it ^^ Thank you for your hard work in posting! I really really appreciate it a lot *^^*
P.S: I personally think the pictures do help a lot, instead of printing them I just left my laptop on while cooking and looking.
Hi Aeri
May I use your recipe in my school homework?
Please leave me a answer♥
I will wait your reply~:)
hi Woori Bae,
oops..sorry for late reply. 😥 yes you can use my recipe in your school homework.. hope it’s not too late to realy. ㅜ.ㅜ sorry again.
I haven’t made these yet, but I am looking for a dduk kalbi recipe ever since we had it in a korean restaurant. Are these ones very tender and soft after they are cooked? My kids would love the same texture as the ones they enjoyed at the restaurant. Thank you!
hi jane,
I don’t know how close it will be with the one you tried at the restaurant.. maybe you can try and see.. 😉 It is tender too.
The recipe came out well. A little different that my mother in law makes. I am Italian and love to cook all types of food. I love to try new Korean dishes as to surprise my wife with a little taste of home from time to time.
Hi Aeri, I am a Singaporean married to a Korean. He lives in SG with me and the Korean food are usually very expensive and he is very picky with his food, so the local food don’t really suit him. Thanks to your recipes, I am able to make authentic Korean food for him at a fraction of the cost. One recipe which I just cannot master is Tteok Galbi. There is always too much liquid coming out of the parties when I fry them, making them really soggy and crumbles easily. The colour is also not as brown and glistening as yours. Do you know the problem or can you share some tips w me? Cheers!!
hi Gracie,
I’m glad to hear that my recipes are helpful for you and your husband. Thanks 🙂 About your question.. when you make the patty.. make sure that your patties stick together well enough.. (patting them for it.. ) and when you cook them.. they do make liquid… so fry both sides.. until they make liquid..and the liquid disappear.. if you cook too long on high temperature.. at the end you will burn yours.. so make sure that you don’t cook them too high temperature either.. just with patience.. fry them until all the moisture is gone..and your patty becomes nice brown color.
Hi Aeri,
May I change the cooking wine with venegar since I making Tteok Galbi ❓
hi Ain,
I will say.. just skip the cooking wine and do not add any vinegar.. ^^
I like how you mentioned that if you want a marinated Korean meat dish, a galbi is a great option for you. My sister mentioned to me last night that she is planning to try beef galbi and other beef dishes for her birthday next week asked if I have any idea what is the best option to do. Thanks to this informative article and I’ll be sure to tell her that we can try the restaurant that I know as they have good reviews and they offer many various beef dishes.
hi John,
Thank you for your comment. 🙂