Gamja Tteok

Ingredients

Dough

• 500 gpotato starch
• or 1.5 kg potatoes, for making starch
• about 200 ml boiling water
• 1 teaspoonsalt

Bean filling

• 200 gred beans or mung beans, cooked
• 2 tablespoonssugar
• 1/2 teaspoonsalt

Vegetable filling

• 200 gkimchi, squeezed and chopped
• or 200 g cabbage, blanched and chopped
• 1onion, finely chopped
• 2spring onions, sliced
• 1 tablespoonsesame oil
• salt and pepper

To finish

• sesame oil, for brushing
• toasted sesame seeds

Directions

1. Grate the potatoes finely into cold water. Squeeze the pulp out through a cloth. Let the liquid stand for an hour. Pour off the water very carefully. Dry the starch out completely. Put the potato starch in a heatproof bowl.
2. Add the salt to the dry starch. Pour boiling water in a little at a time. Stir it hard with a wooden spoon as you pour. Keep adding until it comes together. It should be smooth and quite stiff. Add more starch if it is sticky. Add a spoonful more boiling water if it crumbles. Kneading it takes genuinely hot hands.
3. Let it cool just enough to handle. Knead it while it is still very warm. Cold dough cracks and will not shape. Knead it for about five minutes. It becomes smooth and slightly elastic. Keep it covered while you work. Mash the cooked beans roughly.
4. Add the sugar and the salt to it. Work it all into a thick paste. Roll it into small balls ready to use. Squeeze the kimchi out very thoroughly. Wet filling bursts the dumplings open. Chop the drained kimchi very finely. Mix it with the onion and spring onion. Add the sesame oil to the mixture.
5. Season it with salt and pepper. Take a piece of the warm dough. Roll it into a ball in your palms. Press it out flat into a disc. Work it thin around the edges. Put a spoonful of filling in the middle. Pinch them closed very firmly. Roll it smooth in your palms again.
6. Check over every seam by feel. Wet your finger and smooth over any crack. Work fast before the dough cools. Line a steamer with a damp cloth. Set the dumplings in without touching. They stick to each other if they touch.
7. Cover it and steam over boiling water. Give them about twenty minutes. Brush them with sesame oil while hot. That stops them sticking together. Scatter toasted sesame seeds over them. Serving them is done properly warm. Steam them again to soften them.

Technique

• Ryanggang sits at altitude on the Chinese border where the growing season is short and cold, so rice does not grow well and potatoes became the staple; Kangwon also grows them heavily.
• North Korea suffered a severe food crisis in the nineteen nineties, with death toll estimates that vary widely and remain contested, after which potato cultivation was promoted heavily and potato dishes gained prominence; the dish itself is older than that policy.
• Potato starch, a pure white powder, is what gives the translucency and chew, and potato flour, which is dried whole potato ground up, will not work at all.

Substitutions

• Bought potato starch is what most households now use in place of home-made.
• Cooked red beans, mung beans, kimchi or blanched cabbage all work as fillings.

Variations

• Some households still ferment potatoes for weeks to make the starch traditionally.
• A version with a savoury meat filling is also made.
• Similar potato starch dumplings are made in Gangwon province in South Korea.

History

A speciality of Ryanggang and Kangwon, where potatoes replaced rice as the staple crop and were promoted heavily during the 1990s food crisis.

Frequently asked questions

What is Gamja Tteok?

Gamja Tteok is a snack from North Korea: translucent chewy dumplings of potato starch stuffed with beans or vegetables. A speciality of Ryanggang and Kangwon, where potatoes replaced rice as the staple crop and were promoted heavily during the 1990s food crisis.

How long does Gamja Tteok take to make?

Gamja Tteok takes 1 hour of preparation and 25 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes about 20 dumplings. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Gamja Tteok?

Yes, within limits. Bought potato starch is what most households now use in place of home-made. Cooked red beans, mung beans, kimchi or blanched cabbage all work as fillings.