Okay, so last weekend I finally tried making Ggulteok at home again. Been craving that chewy, sweet street food vibe forever. Grabbed my bag of glutinous rice flour like always, dumped a cup into the mixing bowl. Added my sugar and salt, poured water while stirring… already looked kinda lumpy but kept going. Stuck it in the microwave – first mistake right there. Microwave? Yeah, don’t do that. Came out half-hard, half-gooey, like playdough that fought back. Total waste.
The Mess-Up Moments I Figured Out
Next try, I switched to steaming like my Korean aunt nagged me to do. Used regular water again though – tap water, actually. Big mistake number two. When I bit into the cooked dough later, it tasted… off. Like faint swimming pool flavor? Ugh. Dumped that batch too.
Third round got serious. Measured water ratio carefully this time – about ¾ cup per cup of flour. Boiled it first! Poured hot water slowly into flour while stirring like a maniac. Thing is, I stopped stirring too soon. Mistake three. Found dry flour pockets after steaming! Had to break those lumps with chopsticks, looked bumpy and sad.
The Turnaround Steps
Final try, nailed it. Here’s exactly what worked:
- Used bottled spring water (sounds fancy, but just avoids tap weirdness)
- Weighed flour – 150 grams per batch – spooned into cup, leveled. No scooping!
- Boiled water + mixed nonstop with chopsticks until dough pulled away clean from bowl edges
- Steamed 25 minutes flat in bamboo steamer lid-on, no peeking (!)
After steaming, I pounded that dough with a wooden spoon immediately – Mistake four I avoided was waiting. If it cools? Game over. Pounded while screaming-hot till it got shiny and stretchy. Rolled logs, coated in roasted soybean powder… perfection. Chewy but soft, zero weird tastes. Felt like Seoul street stall magic in my kitchen. Dodged those four errors? Total win.
