Blog 2: Plating and Presentation

1. My Dish: Tteok-bokki & Egg Dumplings

Tteok-bokki, also known as stir-fried rice cakes, is a popular Korean menu that everyone likes based on spicy red pepper paste or soy sauce and is usually eaten with fried dumplings, eggs, and fish cakes. Also, Egg dumpling is a simple dish made by mixing vermicelli, cabbages, onions, and green onions with eggs. The reasons I chose this dish today are as follows. Firstly, my family loves this very much; next, it is not difficult to cook and does not take much time either. Finally, I was very curious about how to plate this red and hot Korean dish in various ways.

2. Recipes

■ Tteok-bokki: Stir-fried rice cake

1) Ingredients (Yield: 3 servings)

Seasoning: Hot pepper paste: 115g, Sugar: 70g, Soy sauce: 20g, Sesame oil: 3 tsp
Water: 700ml
Rice Cake (Tubular type): 432g- Soaked in cold water
Onions: 45g (1/2 pc)- cut into large dice
Red cabbage: 100g- cut into large dice
Green onions: 30g (2pcs)
Black pepper (ground): 3g
Sesame salt: 4 tsp

2) Recipes

① Soak the rice cake in cold water for 20 minutes and set it aside.

② Boil three eggs and reserve them for the dish.

③ Put hot pepper paste, sugar, and sesame oil in a small bowl and mix well.

④ Cut the red cabbages and onions into large dice and cut

the green onions into medium dice.

⑤ Put water in a large wok, stir well to mix water and seasoning,

and boil over medium-high heat.

⑥ Once the seasoning and water boil, add sugar, cabbages,

green onions, and onions to a boil.

⑦ Add rice cake and boiled eggs, fish cake, soy sauce, and boil over high heat for 5 minutes and simmer for 10-15 minutes.

⑧ Adjust the seasoning.

■ Egg Dumplings

1) Ingredients (Yield: 3 servings)

Eggs: 5 pcs (grade A, large)
Korean cut vermicelli: 150g- Soaked in tepid water
Green onions: 30g (2pcs)
Carrots: 50g (1/2pc)
All-purpose flour: 70g
Vegetable oils: 20ml
Salt: 15g/ Black pepper (ground): 7g
Water: 4 tsp

2) Recipes

① Soak the vermicelli in tepid water for at least 30 minutes to have a

soft texture and shorten cooking time.

② Chop the carrots and green onions finely.

③ Boil the vermicelli in boiling water for 4 minutes.

④ After draining the water well from the vermicelli, cut the vermicelli

into 2cm long.

⑤ Put the chopped carrots, green onions, and vermicelli

in a stainless-steel mixing bowl and season with salt.

⑥ Add flour and 5 eggs, water, salt, and black pepper, and mix well.

⑦ Heat the pan with vegetable oil, scoop out the mixtures with a

small ladle and cook over medium heat.

*When the bottom side of the mixtures is almost fully cooked,

carefully fold the mixtures in half-size to make a dumpling shape.

⑧ Cook until the outside is crispy, and the inside is enough cooked

over medium heat. If necessary, lower the heat a little.

3. Plating

: Tteok-bokki & Egg Dumplings

■ Plating A

■ Plating B

■ Plating C

: C is Tteok-bokki in the center of a large salad bowl and egg dumplings

on the edge, cut, and plated.

: A was plated side by side with Tteok-bokki and dumplings on a square plate.

: B was plated Tteok-bokki in a small bowl and egg dumplings on a small round

plate separately, on a rounded wood tray.

4. Evaluation

I enjoyed this dish for dinner with my two children. We each chose one of the three platings for one serving and shared the experiences. “A” was evaluated as being very easy and familiar to eat because the foods are plated together in one square plate; besides, since there are egg dumplings right next to Tteok-bokki, the child said that she would eat egg dumplings with Tteok-bokki sauce or mix the two dishes together. “C” was said that it was chosen by an elementary school child because it was the most beautiful and nice plating; she expressed that the plating looks like a colorful, fancy, and valuable dish. Finally, I have experienced “B”, and I thought it is the best plating for the recipe. In fact, the kids may have chosen “A” and “C” because the Tteok-bokki sauce might feel a bit spicy. However, Tteok-bokki with many sauces has a deeper and richer taste; specifically, the umami is maximized when enough sauce is matched, and the plating also can be the most beautiful. As a result, it will have the most fantastic visuals and plating when a moist sauce goes well with the ingredients and the hot-red sauce will make the flavor of this dish deeper and richer by keeping well the balance of each ingredient.

5. Reflection

I have cooked a lot of dishes so far, but this process was the first time I experienced different plating with one dish, so this plating experience was meaningful for me. As I studied the different methods of plating, I had time to reflect on the ingredients and recipes in more depth. This is a truly unimaginable achievement! Until now, I thought that the cooking itself is the most important because the plating is just visible, but through this work, I realized that plating is also a big and important part of cooking. Also, it was very interesting and enjoyable to be able to choose three different platings with the children according to our preferences and discuss cooking and appropriate plating together.