Tteokguk is a traditional holiday dish that requires a lot of effort to make if you want to do it right.

First, you need to boil the bone broth for several hours, sauté the meat, and fry the eggs separately.

But is it really necessary to go through all that just for a meal at home? I find it's best to just whip something up with whatever ingredients I have in the fridge.

For two servings, prepare about 300g of tteok (rice cakes).

If the tteok is frozen, soak it in cold water for about 10 minutes, and if it's soft, just rinse it in water.

While it's great to use beef broth for the soup, there are days when that feels like too much work.

You can use one pack of bone broth with about 800ml of water, or a pack of store-bought gomtang for convenience.

When using bone broth, mix in a little water to avoid it being too salty or thick. I usually start with half bone broth and half water and adjust to taste.

Once the broth is boiling in a pot, add the tteok. Then, add about a tablespoon of soy sauce and half a tablespoon of minced garlic.

Don't add too much soy sauce at the beginning; it's easier to adjust with salt later.

And you don't need meat to enjoy tteokguk. Just one egg is enough.

After a few minutes of boiling the tteok, they will become soft and float to the top. At this point, beat one egg in a bowl and slowly pour it around the edge of the pot.

Don't stir immediately; wait about 10 seconds before gently stirring so the egg spreads nicely. I find this method much easier than frying the egg separately.

Finally, chop some green onions and add a handful, then sprinkle some pepper. Taste it, and if it's bland, just add a little salt to finish.

Once served in a bowl, if you have seaweed flakes, sprinkle some on top. You can also crumble seasoned seaweed over it.

Just adding seaweed flakes makes the tteokguk look much more appealing, even if you didn't do much.

So, this is the super simple version: wash the tteok, boil the broth, add the tteok, soy sauce, and garlic, pour in the egg, and add green onions. Done.

If you're quick, you can have it ready in 15 minutes. As I get older, I realize there aren't many meals as easy as tteokguk.

On days when I don't want to cook rice, and there's no soup or side dishes, just having a pack of tteokguk in the freezer is incredibly satisfying.

However, the tteok can be surprisingly filling. If you're too greedy and add too much from the start, you might end up thinking, "Wow, I didn't add that much, why is there so much?" and end up with leftovers.

About 150g per serving is usually enough.

And one last tip: if you let tteokguk sit for a long time after boiling, the tteok will absorb all the broth.

Instead of making a whole pot and thinking you'll eat it later, it's best to boil just what you'll eat right away for the best flavor.