appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Josephine Tee

The great kimchi debate – about whether the pickled cabbage dish is originally Korean or Chinese – last month drew millions of Chinese and Koreans to social media to defend the origin of the food staple, even prompting a minor online war involving Korea’s YouTube personality Hamzy and Chinese internet celebrity Li Ziqi.
Another food caught in the crosshairs of the online cultural food fight is the universally-beloved rice cake.
Hong Kong’s most giftable luxury Lunar New Year puddings

A versatile dish made with glutinous rice flour and compressed or combined with another binding substance, rice cakes exist in various shapes and are particularly prevalent in Asian cuisines. Like pasta, they possess almost no flavour by themselves, but when cooked with sauces they retain their chewy texture and absorb their complementary favours. 
Chinese rice cakes, or niangao, are made from pounded rice and have a sticky, chewy texture. Niangao’s origin story may date back to as many as 2,500 years ago to Suzhou during a chaotic period of war, which lasted from 722 to 481BC. The Wu Kingdom’s prime minister was first credited with shaping glutinous rice flour into bricklike shapes and saving his people from starvation when his kingdom was besieged. 
Restaurants closed for Lunar New Year? Here’s how to pair wines like a pro at home
Niangao lore also tells of a Beijing custom that involves eating rice cakes on the first day of Lunar New Year back in the Liao dynasty. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, niangao became a common staple, with different varieties developed in the north and south.

One notable recipe found in southern China, particularly in Shanghai, involves stir-frying flat rice cakes with sliced pork, leafy greens and a sweet-savoury sauce consisting of soy sauce and sugar. While rice cakes can be eaten all year round, they are traditionally regarded as special dishes shared during Lunar New Year reunion meals, representing good luck and fortune as niangao is a homonym for “higher year”.
Meanwhile, literally translated as “stir-fried rice cake”, tteokbokki is a popular Korean street food that is made with small-sized garaetteok. Unlike the Chinese version that is sliced and flat, garaetteok is a long and cylindrically-shaped tteok, or rice cake, and has a significantly chewier bite than its Chinese counterpart. 

The first references to tteok appeared in several books about wars between China and Korea that took place between 480 and 222BC. The books told of washed rice that was pounded into a powder and mixed with water, before being shaped into flat discs that were steamed. 
K-pop stars’ favourite foods and Korean dishes revealed
To draw focus on the rice cakes’ chewy texture, tteokbokki is served with minimal garnish and side ingredients. The rice cakes are boiled and coated in a red sauce of gochujang (chilli paste), gochugaru (red pepper flakes), soy sauce, sugar and sesame seeds. Some home-made recipes include sliced eomuk (flat fish cake), cabbage and scallions. 

Spicy tteokbokki is generally acknowledged to have a more recent origin. Developed in 1953, the year the Korean war ended, the recipe can be traced back to a woman in Seoul who made the rice cakes with gochujang sauce as an affordable comfort snack. 
5 items cleared from shelves after appearing on the Bangtan Bomb YouTube series
A Korean rice cake dish that is similar to Chinese niangao is the Gungjung Tteokbokki, or royal court rice cakes. As its name suggests, the traditional dish dates back to the Joseon Dynasty and was a key aspect of royal cuisine. In contrast to the modern spicy version commonly found on street stalls, Gungjung Tteokbokki is stir-fried with sliced meat, vegetables and a mild soy-based sauce.
Although rice cakes are now commonly served in both countries, there is no doubt that rice cakes share long and illustrious histories in both countries. They will surely continue to play important roles in Chinese and Korean traditions for future generations.
Want more stories like this? Sign up here. Follow STYLE on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.


Chinese Restaurant Awards 2026: Hong Kong’s Mott 32 takes top spot in Canada

Mooncakes for the dog? How China is reinventing its iconic festive snack

The Serial Killer Speakeasy is coming to Hong Kong. Why you should be outraged

Singapore food watchdog investigates alleged illegal sales of dog meat

Food and Drinks

Chinese niangao vs Korean tteokbokki – which rice cake dish came first, and what’s the origin story of the tasty Lunar New Year staple?

Korean and Chinese rice cakes – same same but different? Let the debate begin. Photos: Elaine Yau, Jonathan Wong

All the ingredients for Chinese-style rice cakes with zha choi and sliced pork. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Niangao (rice cakes) can be eaten all year round but are traditionally eaten during Lunar New Year too. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Korean street-style spicy fried rice cake with dumplings from Roll & Mari in Tsim Sha Tsui. Photo: SCMP Archive

Korean rice cakes have a more cylindrical shape and retain their shape and form throughout cooking. Photo: Jonathan Wong

What is the Lunar New Year chuen hup, or candy box, and what are the auspicious meanings behind the snacks found inside? 

Chuen Hup or candy box for Chinese New Year. Photo: Kerry Hotel

A chuen hup, or candy box, for Lunar New Year. Photo: Kerry Hotel

A candy box with nine compartments filled with assorted nuts. Photo: Kowloon Shangri-la

Where to eat vegan and vegetarian food in Hong Kong this Lunar New Year: Grain of Salt, Miss Lee, Mott 32, Soil to Soul and Treehouse among February’s plant-based dining treats

Mott 32 is just one of the Hong Kong eateries featuring a vegan menu for the Lunar New Year period. Photo: Handout

New vegan restaurant Grain of Salt Soup-er dumpling dish. Photo: Handout

Mott 32’s new vegan menu includes crispy “chicken” with Szechuan red peppercorns, dried chilli and cashew nuts. Photo: Handout

Miss Lee’s vegan clay pot. Photo: Handout

Miss Lee’s vegan afternoon tea. Photo: Handout

Treehouse’s vegan curry bowl, Photo: Handout

Treehouse tote ball with eight items for February. Photo: Handout

Soil to Soul’s vegan poon choi. Photo: Handout

Lyre’s non-alcoholic spirits are also vegan. Photo: Handout

K-pop’s next BTS or Blackpink? The entertainment companies behind Exo, Red Velvet and Mamamoo are set to unveil new bands this year – here’s what we know already

Newly debuted K-pop boy band T1419 was a collaboration between MLD Entertainment, NHN and Sony Music Entertainment. Photo: @junhyukkie/ Twitter

K-pop group Mamamoo. Photo: @wheeinthefandom/ Twitter

Blackpink girls. Photo: YG Entertainment

K-pop girl band EXID. Photo: @hyoxelly/ Twitter

JYP Entertainment's Japanese K-pop girl band NiziU. Photo: @niziushots/ Twitter

=== PHOTO CAPTURED ONLINE=== Rain. Photo: @rain_oppa/Instagram

Monsta X to G-Dragon – 5 K-pop idols who were already breaking gender norms before it was a trend

Amber Liu, Lee Hong-ki and G-Dragon – three K-pop idols breaking gender boundaries. Photos: @ajol_llama; @lee_hong_ki_2015; @gdragon_offical/Instagram

Monsta X. Photo: @official_monsta_x/Instagram

Lee Hong Ki. Photo: @lee_hong_ki_2015/Instagram

Amber Liu. Photo: @ajol_llama/Instagram

Where can you eat poon choi? Hong Kong’s Lunar New Year speciality gets a Year of the Ox upgrade – 6 restaurants offering Michelin-starred, Hokkaido seafood and vegetarian options

Deluxe poon choi, Dynasty restaurant’s take on a classic one-pot dish from Hong Kong’s New Territories, long shared at special occasions. Photo: Dynasty

Golden vegetarian poon choi. Photo: Dong Lai Shun

Korean sauce poon choi. Photo: Soil to Soul

Japanese Hokkaido hairy crab big bowl feast with fish maw and lobster paste. Photo: Sexy Crab

Poon choi clay pot rice. Photo: Chop Chop

Deluxe poon choi. Photo: Dynasty

Prosperous Year of the Ox poon choi. Photo: China Tang

Magazines

Style

Leisure

News & Trends


Cultural food fights aren’t new – as we recently learned from the great kimchi wars YouTubers Li Ziqi and Hamzy got caught up in
Nevertheless, Korean and Chinese rice cakes date back thousands of years, and both have their own claims to fame



Li Ziqi inadvertently kicked off an online battle about the origins of kimchi last month: are rice cakes – niangao and tteokbokki – the next Asian staples up for debate?
