Korean street food.

Today, we have a top 5 of Korean street food that I would like to try.

1.     Spicy Rice Cakes/ Ddeokbokki (떡볶이).

This is a popular street-food dish, is a garlicky, richly spiced dish of rice cakes bathed in red chili paste. The sauce is a sweet and spicy combination with dried chili powder and sugar stewed in dried anchovy and sea kelp broth. For advanced ddeokbokki eating, try adding ramen noodles, mozzarella cheese and a hard-boiled egg. In Korea, this snack is commonly purchased from street vendors much like hotdog vendors in New York City. However, it can be found in Korean fast food venues as well as some restaurants outside of Korea.

2.     Fish Cakes/ Odeng/Uhmook (오뎅/어묵).

Okay so don’t be freaked out by the title. A Korean fish cake is not a sweet dessert cake; it’s a savory fish noodle. Typically Korean fish cakes are made with surimi, wheat flour, carrots, onion, salt, sugar and other additives. These ingredients are mixed, kneaded, shaped then boiled, steamed or fried. I don’t know about you, but in general, the perception is that packaged Korean fish cakes typically available from Korean grocery stores are “not healthy”. But nonetheless, it’s cheaper and more convenient that making them yourself.

3.     Ice Cream-filled Waffles (와플).

Waffles are a popular dessert in Korea and more when are full of ice cream. The first step to make this dish is toasting the waffle, immediately spread with butter and cut the waffle in half. Place a scoop of ice cream on one half. Drizzle the ice cream with any topping and gently press the other half to seal the sandwich.

4.     Tornado Potato/ Hweori Gamja (회오리 감자).   

Like potato chips, but way more fun to eat. This crispy spiraling potato chip is served flavored with an assortment of seasonings like powdered cheese or chili. Also, the potato hot dog is a simple hot dog spun into a twisted potato, skewered, dipped in a light flour batter, and deep-fried to a golden color.

5.     Croissant Boong-uh-ppang.

This variation is made from flaky croissant pastry dough pressed in hot goldfish mold pans. Filling range from savory flavors like pizza, to sweet flavors like apple and mango. This one comes from a bakery called, “The boonguhppang that returned from Paris.”

Bonus

One of the slightly strange but famous Korean products is Banana Mat Milk, this is a simply banana flavored milk drink. It’s basically available at every market, supermarket or convenience store across Korea partly due to it’s popularly and also due to its long shelf life. It’s cheap at around $1 and is a healthier option over a soda. 

It comes in a few other flavors including Strawberry and Melon. This is something everyone who visits Korea should try at least once.  

Here is a video of some dishes of 2016.