Dok

There is a food here called "dok" that I am going to try to explain.  When I mentioned it to my family this Christmas I confused everyone trying to explain its like really chewy pasta.

The pronunciation is closer to "doc" with a really short "k" sound.  We ran into trouble the first time we told our Korean friends we had some.  They thought we said we had tried "duck" or "dog" (both of which are possible to eat here, we have only tried the duck).  Anyways, people say that dok is a rice cake, but that doesn't really explain it well.  There is a way you can make it so it looks like cake, but it is nothing like cake.  You make it from just rice flour and water, and the outcome is this really really chewy substance.

Its used here in a  similarly to pasta in sauce or soups, or it can have sugar and beans (beans are mostly used here in dessert) in it to make sweeter, chewy substance.  Its very filling.  The main point is that it is very very chewy.  Someone has described it as a Korean marshmallow minus the sugar.  When its in soups, it reminds me of a dumpling.  They can even make it in fun shapes like stars and hearts. 

The famous street food "dokboki" is mainly a spicy sauce with dok in it.  You can find dok in your local Asian supermarket, so if you feel adventurous next time you make soup, you can drop some in.