This vegan tteokgalbi (떡갈비) is a meat-free recipe inspired by traditional Korean Tteokgalbi which are like slightly sweet and savoury Korean meat patties.
Tteokgalbi (떡갈비) is a traditional Korean recipe normally made of minced beef short ribs and formed into patties. By switching meat for soy curl crumbles, I’m going to show you how to make vegan tteokgalbi in 25 mins!
Recipe for Vegan Tteokgalbi (떡갈비)
I’ve been making vegan versions of Korean dishes for many years and although I haven’t had Tteokgalbi in forever, this vegan recipe is incredibly delicious and I hope it offers a similar taste and texture to traditional Tteokgalbi (떡갈비)
Fun fact: Tteokgalbi (떡갈비) is a dish that was originally made for the royals and whilst it is not a vegan dish (clearly), it doesn’t mean we can’t veganize it and feel like a royal while we eat it!
To make Tteokgalbi vegan, simply use soy curl crumbles with the right marinade. Thankfully for us vegans, Korean dishes (and other dishes around the world) are flavoured using plant-based sauces and ingredients!
This Vegan Tteokgalbi recipe is savoury, salty and sweet, all at the same time with Korean barbeque flavours. It’s also soft, tender and chewy – similar to real meat patties – and high in protein!
You can also make a bunch of these in advance and freeze them to eat later whenever you need some yummy patties. I suggest eating these with rice – they go fantastic with rice!
Ingredients
- Soy Curls (crumbled) or Soy crumbles (TVP)
- Ground Flax Seeds
- Vital Wheat Gluten
- Cornstarch
- Oil
- Tteokgalbi Sauce/Glaze:
- Soy Sauce
- Sugar
- Ginger (ground or fresh)
- Garlic (fresh)
- Rice Syrup (I use brown rice syrup or maple syrup)
- Toasted Sesame oil
- Apple sauce
- Mirin (optional)
This Tteokgalbi recipe is: dairy-free, egg-free & nut-free.
How To Make Tteokgalbi (Vegan)
Start by preheating the oven to 375 degrees F. In the meantime, soak your dry crumbled Soy Curls in hot or warm water, in a large mixing bowl. Set aside to soften (around 10 minutes or until tender) while preparing the rest of the ingredients.
Next, instead of an egg to help bind ingredients, create a vegan alternative by mixing together ground flax seeds and water in a small bowl. Set aside and let it sit for around 10 minutes to create a “flax egg”.
Next is the vegan Tteokgalbi marinade. In a regular-sized bowl, mix together the sauce ingredients until well combined: Soy sauce, sugar, ginger (ground or fresh), toasted sesame oil, rice syrup (or maple syrup), minced garlic, unsweetened apple sauce and mirin (optional)
At this point, your soy curls should have softened. So rinse them, drain the water out and squeeze some out (they should still be a bit wet, but not dripping too much).
Add the soy curls back into a large mixing bowl and pour in the marinade sauce you just made. Mix until well-coated. Add in Vital Wheat Gluten and the flax egg you made and mix until well-combined, using your hands if needed.
Add 2 tbsp of cornstarch at a time, while mixing, to create a “sticky” enough consistency to create patties out of the mixture. They will firm up more in the oven, so they don’t have to be perfectly sticking together, as long as they aren’t breaking apart. For me, it worked out to be 8 tbsp of cornstarch in total.
Line a baking sheet with non-stick liner or parchment paper and create small patties, around 3 inches in diameter. You can squeeze out any excess water while you form your patties. Add the patties onto the baking sheet, not touching each other.
Bake in the oven at 375 degrees F for 10 minutes. While the patties are in the oven, use the bowl you used to mix the sauce and mix together a glaze for the Tteokgalbi: soy sauce, rice syrup (or maple syrup), mirin, and garlic powder.
Take the patties out of the oven. Heat around 1 tbsp of oil on a large non-stick pan on medium heat. as many patties onto the pan and add a spoonful of the glaze on top of each patty (evenly distribute). Cook for a couple of minutes and then flip over. Cook for another couple of minutes or longer, flipping frequently (or turning down the heat) to prevent burning as the sauce will caramelize quickly.
Transfer onto a plate. Top with green onions and/or sesame seeds, if desired. Enjoy right away with rice or as an appetizer (or any other way you’d like). You can freeze these as well and heat them up later.
Vegan Tteokgalbi (떡갈비)
Equipment
- Oven
- Large Mixing Bowl
- Small bowl for mixing flax egg
- Regular Bowl
- Frying Pan / Skillet
Ingredients
- 200 grams Soy Curls dry crumbles, or maybe soy crumbles (TVP)
- 1 tbsp ground flax seeds
- 6 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tbsp garlic minced
- 2 tbsp rice syrup or maple syrup I used brown rice syrup
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
- 2 tbsp apple sauce
- 1 tbsp mirin (optional)
- 1/3 cup Vital Wheat Gluten
- 8 tbsp cornstarch (more or less, depending on consistency)
- 1 tbsp mirin
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1-2 tbsp oil (or more – for cooking)
Instructions
- Start by preheating the oven to 375 degrees F.
- In the meantime, soak your dry crumbled Soy Curls in hot or warm water, in a large mixing bowl. Set aside to soften (around 10 minutes or until tender) while preparing the rest of the ingredients.
- Next, instead of an egg to help bind ingredients, create a vegan alternative by mixing together 1 tbsp ground flax seeds and 3 tbsp water in a small bowl. Set aside and let it sit for around 10 minutes to create a “flax egg”.
- Then, make the vegan Tteokgalbi marinade. In a regular sized bowl, mix together the sauce ingredients until well combined: 4 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp sugar, 1/2 tsp ginger (ground or fresh), 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil, 1 tbsp rice syrup (or maple syrup), 1 tbsp minced garlic, 2 tbsp unsweetened apple sauce and 1 tbsp mirin (optional)
- At this point your soy curls should have softened. So rinse them, drain the water out and squeeze some out (they should still be a bit wet, but not dripping too much).
- Add the soy curls back into a large mixing bowl and pour in the marinade sauce you just made. Mix until well-coated.
- Add in 1/3 cup Vital Wheat Gluten and the flax egg you made and mix until well-combined, using your hands if needed.
- Add 2 tbsp of cornstarch at a time, while mixing, to create a “sticky” enough consistency to create patties out of the mixture. They will firm up more in the oven, so they don’t have to be perfectly sticking together, as long as they aren’t breaking apart. For me, it worked out to be 8 tbsp of cornstarch in total.
- Line a baking sheet with non-stick liner or parchment paper and create small patties, around 3 inches in diameter. You can squeeze out any excess water while you form your patties. Add the patties onto the baking sheet, not touching each other.
- Bake in the oven at 375 degrees F for 10 minutes.
- While the patties are in the oven, use the bowl you used to mix the sauce and mix together a glaze for the Tteokgalbi: 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp rice syrup (or maple syrup), 1 tbsp mirin, and 1 tbsp garlic powder.
- Take the patties out of the oven. Heat around 1 tbsp of oil on a large non-stick pan on medium heat. as many patties onto the pan and add a spoonful of the glaze on top of each patty (evenly distribute). Cook for a couple of minutes and then flip over.
- Cook for another couple of minutes or longer, flipping frequently (or turning down the heat) to prevent burning as the sauce will caramelize quickly.
- Transfer onto a plate. Top with green onions and/or sesame seeds, if desired. Enjoy right away with rice or as an appetizer (or any other way you’d like). You can freeze these as well and heat them up later.
Nutrition
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Any recipe from you has always been good! Now, all I have to do is wait for my order of soy curls to come in the mail. Thanks Rose! Love your videos. They always make me smile. My hubby and I have been vegan for 9 months now and we really appreciate all of your videos and Tiktoks on veganism. We gotta stick together! 😀
omg that’s awesome! I really hope you enjoy these~ soy curls are the best 🙂 thank you so much
This is soo delicious and super easy to make!!!
yay thank you!
I tried this last night with some soy curls leftover in my pantry and they were fantastic. My family loved them too.
YAY! Makes me happy to hear when other family members loved the recipe too!