Ttuk, or tteok (떡), is the widely popular Korean ingredient of glutinous rice cakes. Make your burgers the star of the show by adding this key ingredient into your next recipe!
I, personally, love to create my own recipes that fuse traditional and popular Korean ingredients with American dishes that I’ve grown to love with each day I spend here in the United States. The Ttuk Galbi Burger is just one of the many recipes I enjoyed creating for those around me.
With ingredients like tofu, ginseng, and pinenuts this recipe weighs heavily in its Korean inspiration and also offers unique nutritional properties despite being a grilled burger. In addition to this rice cake burger recipe, I encourage you to also pair it with my Kimchi Slaw!
Ingredients
- 3 oz. dried shitake mushrooms (soaked in water for 20min)
- 3 lbs. ground beef
- 1 curd extra firm tofu
- 8 soft rice sticks
- 2 tsp. pine nuts
- 3 oz. ginseng root
- 4 tbsp. freshly minced garlic
- 2 tbsp. freshly minced ginger
- 1 tbsp. onion salt
- 1 tbsp. garlic powder
- 1/2 tbsp. black pepper
- 4 tbsp. flour
- 1 tsp. olive oil
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 pear (grated) OR 1/4 cup pineapple juice
- 4 tbsp. Lite soy sauce
- 1/2 tbsp. sesame oil
- 1 tbsp. lemon juice
- 1 tbsp. minced garlic
- 1 tomato, sliced
- Romaine Lettuce (washed and separated)
- Hamburger Buns of choice
Instructions
Bulgogi/Galbi Sauce
- Add soy sauce, juice, sesame oil, lemon juice, and minced garlic to a saucepan over low heat. Allow time to become fragrant. Cool and set aside to use later.
Ttuk Galbi Burger
- In a large bowl, place ground beef.
- Cut tofu into small pieces and add to bowl. Add ginger, 3 tbsp. minced garlic, black pepper, onion salt, flour, and 2 eggs into the bowl.
- Mix the seasonings and tofu into the ground beef, thoroughly using your hands.
- Add ginseng and pine nuts into a blender and pulsate, then add to the ground beef mixture and mix.
- Take 1/4 pound handfuls, and shape them into patties on a plate.
- Add olive oil onto a heating skillet over medium heat.
- Add patties onto the skillet, and push gently on the top to place them.
- Take two rice sticks per patty, and push them onto the top of each patty.
- For medium-well, flip after about three minutes, or sooner if you'd like them a little more rare. (Covering with a lid will help the patties cook faster in about 2-3 minutes.)
- Drizzle Galbi sauce over the finishing patties, then add mushrooms on top of each patty. Drizzle a little bit more Galbi sauce on top to allow the burger and mushrooms a reduced carmelization!
- Finally, arrange all of your ingredients onto your burger. Eat just this recipe, or try adding my very own Kimchi Slaw Side to bring an even higher level of flavor to your burger!
Kimchi Slaw
- Slice kimchi (rinsed in water) into thin pieces, and sprinkle with sesame oil and sesame seend.