It’s been a while but it’s time for another of my noodle reviews! It’s Nongshim’s holey toppokki with noodles in the Jjajang (black bean) flavour. I really like jjajang and rarely find it as good in the UK as I’ve had in South Korea so I had high hopes. The Paldo Jjajangmen was a bit of a let down, so I was curious to see if Nongshim could do better, especially with rice cakes thrown into the mix this time.
The gimmick is the tteok (rice cakes) which have little holes in them. Apparently this is to help the sauce soak through them rather than just coating the outside. I’ve never seen this before so I had no idea if that’s a real thing but I did see lots of people going on about it online so hey, here we are – you know I was going to try it for myself!
The flavour
Typically, Korean tteokbokki is a street food dish with rice cakes and fishcakes slathered in a sweet and spicy sauce. This holey topokki is in Jjajang sauce which is made of black bean. More earthy and savoury in flavour. It’s popular with children as there is no spice in there and apparently, they often served it for lunch to the pre-school kids Dave taught when he lived in Seoul.
Enough about jjajang generally. On this pot specifically, it was tasty. Not as rich as fresh jjajang but still comforting and moreish with a savoury, roast onion-soy backnote (if you can imagine that!).
The texture
Dried rice cakes can be hard to cook right. I’ve had them in instant pots before and been heartily disappointed but these were good. Was it the holes? Who knows – maybe! They were soft and chewy just as they should be. Alongside the rice cakes there is also a small portion of glass noodles too. An odd choice as traditionally jjajangmeon would feature thicker wheat noodles. But… the glass noodles were good and made a nice contrast to the chewy rice cakes. Between the two textures, this felt like a proper little sensory experience for an instant pot. Tick tick!
Ease of making
Super easy. Empty everything into the pot, add hot water, stir and microwave for 3-4 minutes. That’s it. No draining or separate sauce sachet to deal with. Perfect for a quick lunch when you can’t be bothered to think too hard about food but still want more than a supermarket meal deal.
Scores
As a reminder, I score every instant noodle on three things out of 10 each: flavour, texture and ease of making, for 30 points total.
- Flavour: 8/10
- Texture: 9/10
- Ease: 9/10
- Total: 26/30
Would I buy this holey topokki again?
Yes, definitely! This is easily one of the better jjajang style instant products I’ve tried, and the holey rice cake trick seemed to work. If you like your comfort food savoury and want something a bit different, keep an eye out for this one in your local Korean or Asian supermarket. My only criticism is that the sauce was a bit thin, so if you’re making it, I’d go for slightly less water than the instructions suggest!
Tried it? Let me know what you thought in the comments below! And, for more instant noodle reviews, head to my Noodle Reviewooodle page!
