HELP!!! craving "dduk" in Manhattan or Queens!!!!! (moved from Outer Boroughs)
I need to find a "dduk jip" in Manhattan or Queens. I live on Roosevelt Island, and I've pretty much resigned myself to looking in Queens, as the only place I can find in Manhattan is the Han Au Reum on 32nd that will occasionally have very sad looking, dry, old, half-frozen / freezer-burned dduk--at least, that's been my experience with them...
I just really miss having fresh-made dduk!! It'll be great for when I'm craving a huge slice of cake (my favorite dessert on earth. any kind will do.), and can have a healthier, natural, nostalgiac, wheat-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, allergen-free, anti-inflammatory wholesome alternative. So, please, if anyone knows of a place, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me know, and tell me what YOU LIKE, and describe it here as well! =)
Here is a small list of what I've been able to come up with:
I don't even know all the different names of dduk that I like, but I especially love the pumpkin dduk. Is that made with kabocha?? mmm...smooth, creamy, sweet, velvety, mellow orange pumpkin slices nestled into pillowy fluffy snow white rice cake, dotted with black beans and nuts??? uh!! this is one of the ultimate comfort foods for me. this, with a cup of roasted corn tea or yuja cha? forget about it.... manna, with beans and squash. heavenly.
And, I love, love, LOVE "sul dduk." It's usually in a big white clean, spongy slab and comes with pretty garnishes of slivered daechu (jujube dates), a/o chestnuts, a/o pinenuts, and black sesame seeds (typically, these garnished are used to make a beautiful korean crane decoration.) yummy yummy! "sul" means booze, and I'm pretty sure it's made with soju, or some other variation of a cooking rice wine. I love it so much! but I can NEVER find this!!! =( sad.
Then there's also the really soft, moist, mochi-like balls of dduk that are about the same size and shape of donut holes, and are covered in various tender, sweet ground bean powders, like red bean, green pea, and roasted soy bean and the yummy bright yellow sweet mung bean powder (my absolute fave as a child). Also, there are firmer, rectangular cut pieces of dduk that are also typically covered in any one of these powders as well (soy, mung, and red). I think the one that's covered in the slightly sweeted roasted soy bean powder is called "in jul mee." Is that right??
I also remember having the kind of dduk that was made of a much firmer, tighter rice "dough." The dough is usually left white, or colored to be pink, or mixed with some kind of green "sut?" chlorophyll, and filled with either sugared & sesame seeds or a mash of sweetened mung bean paste, and then shaped into little donut holes or half-moons, traditionally eaten during "chu suk," or, "Korean Thanksgiving," or the Harvest Moon Festival time (which is why some of them are shaped like half-moons and are filled with a yellow mung bean paste to represent this "moon" holiday.). After these are steamed, they are tossed in an oil mixture typically containing sesame seed oil, and I think these are called, "song pyun.). The half-moons are addicting, but I think I ate a whole tray of this as a child and got very sick, so I don't crave this as much as I used to when I was very little. but--it's lovely, tasty stuff nonetheless.
And then there's that awful plain dduk--what I used to call, "church dduk," b/c that's what they always served at the church buffets. It seems to be made in the same way as the "song pyun" dduk base, only extruded into riveted long strips, then cut at an angle into diamond shapes. These come in white and green and are also oiled. What in the heck are you supposed to do with these? I would always try to eat one with some kimchi, but what's the point--when regular rice is so fragrant and clean, and fresh, and available to eat? Do these go in a special dish or are supposed to be served as a specific accouterment to a particular dish that I don't know about? I don't know what these are called, but then again, I also don't see the point of their existence.
Ooh! I've also developed a taste for "ggul dduk" or, "honey dduk," over the years. It's really, really, very sticky and sweet--almost gooey on the outside like a pecan molasses sticky bun b/c it's covered in black beans (mostly), raisins or dates, maybe some chestnuts, and then slathered in what I imagine to be a crystallized honey (it just doesn't seems like it would be anything else), and then steamed so that the honey seeps into the cooking dduk and the rice powder absorbs the dark brown sticky goodness.
There's also that whole-grain, steamed, sweet rice cake that looks like it's made with whole brown rice kernels. Nothing's been ground up into powder. I mean--it could be brown rice, but I'm pretty sure that it's just sweet white rice kernels mixed with a soy sauce base that's sweetened somehow (blegh), and then chestnuts and pinenuts and dried fruits are added before it's steamed. I never really managed to enjoy this dduk, but we always had it growing up b/c my dad (who's a health nut freak) thought it to be the healthiest of the bunch over the white or pink varieties that I would bounce up and down and giggle uncontrollably over... but, I could never get over the sweet & salty "brown" taste, even back when I had no clue that it might be soy sauce...it just never tasted very good and "cake-y" to me. So yeah, I don't know what that's called either, but I miss eating dduk so much, that I'd totally grab some now if I had the opportunity.
Happy dduk hunting! :)
Your friend in all things yummy,
buttered_toast
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After moving back here from Seoul, I was also craving dduk. I found some at Hangawi in Manhattan (on the menu as "spicy rice cakes". They also have kabocha, although sadly not in the same dish.
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BionicGrrrl
May 13, 2010 08:06 AM
At Hmart on 32nd they have sul dduk. Got some last week, and it was fresh. The dduk there usually isn't that great, but the sul dduk was good. I think it must have just gotten delivered. In NJ, Jin Go Gae on Broad Ave [248 Broad Avenue Palisades Park, NJ 07650-1552 - (201) 944-8445] has lots of dduk. They don't always have sul dduk, but you can call in advance.
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Jin Go Gae
248 Broad Ave, Palisades Park, NJ 07650 -
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Hello buttered_toast. I don't know much about Manhattan but I do know NJ. And there are several in the area of Palisades Park, Fort Lee and one in particular in Ridgefield Park. If you are still interested please let me know. I know you had posted this a long time ago but I thought I'd give it a shot. Luvs!
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re: sansfx
Could you PLEASE share the information on NJ "dduk jip"???
I've been looking for one in Manhattan (ha!) and Queens for AGES, to no avail.
Woorijip's dduk does seem a whole lot better than those sold at Hanahreum, supposedly they make it right there. If the OP can't do NJ right away, these will do in a pinch.
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