Red bean steamed rice cake, or pat sirutteok (팥시루떡), is one of the most familiar varieties of rice cake in Korea, and people can enjoy them at birthday parties, including a baby’s first birthday, during gosa, or shamanistic rituals, and even when a new neighbor moves in and offers the rice cake to say hello to their new neighbors. 

Sirutteok varieties are so popular that a total of 11 kinds of such rice cakes were recorded in the "Gyuhap Chongseo" (규합총서, 閨閤叢書), an encyclopedia written in 1809 about life in late Joseon times.

In general, the recipe begins by soaking and grinding the rice. The ground rice is placed in a steamer and topped with strained read beans. It can vary depending on what ingredients are added to the rice powder or what type of toppings is used. Among all the different types, the best-known variety of sirutteok is pat sirutteok, or red bean steamed rice cake. 

In Korea, people often make rice cake with red beans and share it with others. This is due to the traditional belief that red beans ward off evil spirits. People traditionally believed that the color of red beans symbolized the yangenergy, which was thought to have the power to expel evil yin spirits and prevent infectious diseases. For this reason, they made sirutteok with red beans and shared it with others to mark important days or occasions, such as banquets, the first 100-day party for an infant, birthdays, beginnings of new businesses or moving to a new home, in the belief that the rice cake would bring good luck.



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Red bean steamed rice cake, or pat sirutteok is made with red beans and rice. People make this type of rice cake to mark important occasions, such as birthdays, starting new businesses, or moving to a new home, and share it with others. Red beans were traditionally believed to ward off evil spirits.


Farmers used to make this variety of rice cake with newly harvested crops to perform shamanic or religious rituals, or gosa, especially on Ipdong (입동, 立冬), or the "Onset of Winter," one of the 24 solar terms throughout the year, according to the "Record of Seasonal Customs in the Eastern Kingdom" (Dongguk Sesigi, 동국세시기, 東國歲時記) (1849). 

The dish was also enjoyed on other solar term days, such as Dongji (동지, 冬至), the winter solstice and the day with the fewest hours of daylight throughout the year. When Dongji falls between Nov. 1 and 10 on the lunar calendar, people would dub that day Ae-dongji (애동지, 兒冬至) and feed their children with red bean steamed rice cake instead of regular red bean porridge, the typical seasonal food on Dongji. 

According to the Institute of Traditional Korean Food, red beans help people discharge unnecessary water in the inner body. In the court kitchen, radishes were added to the red bean steamed rice cake to make it a sweeter dessert.