I've been having trouble finding plain rice cakes lately. Both Korean-style tteobokki and Chinese-style 年糕 (nián gāo) have been hard to come by. For whatever reason, I've only been seeing them sold as meal kits with sauce and other inclusions already mixed in. Which is tasty, but not what I'm looking for when I want to do scratch cooking.

So when TF and I were perusing a Korean grocery store in Toronto last week, I took the opportunity to grab a big package of plain tteobokki to bring home with us.

We also nabbed some chunjang (black bean paste) while we were there since I figured this would make for a good opportunity to finally try this Jjajang Tteobokki recipe.

I think the soy sauce and "classic" tteobokki recipes are still my favourites. But this one was also quite nice and I'm glad we got the chance to try it out!

Jjajang Tteobokki

Slightly adapted from Aaron & Claire

Ingredients

Tteobokki

• 500g tteobokki (Korean-style rice cakes)
• 2 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 2 Tbsp. chunjang (Korean black bean paste)
• 200g ground chicken
• 4 green onions, sliced
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 c. cabbage, diced
• 1 Tbsp. minced garlic
• 1 Korean-style fish cake, chopped
• 2 c. water
• 4 hard-boiled eggs

Sauce

• 3 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 tsp. soy sauce (pref. mix of light and dark)
• 1 Tbsp. oyster sauce
• 1 Tbsp. gochujang (Korean chile paste)
• 2 Tbsp. water

Directions

1. If tteobokki are frozen, soak in cold water for 30 minutes before cooking.
2. Combine all sauce ingredients and mix well.
3. Heat wok over medium-high heat.
4. Add oil and swirl to coat.
5. Add chicken and stir-fry for 1 minute.
6. Add chunjang and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
7. Add green onion, onion, cabbage, and garlic and stir-fry for another 1 minute.
8. Add the sauce and tteobokki and cook for another 2 minutes.
9. Add the water, bring to a boil, and cook for 5 minutes.
10. Add the fish cakes and eggs and cook until sauce has thickened.
11. Serve with kimchi and/or other vegetable sides of your choice.