Classic Tteokbokki (Korean Rice Cakes)

This is the classic spicy tteokbokki preparation. And it was... fine? I didn't dislike it. But I have to say, I also didn't enjoy it nearly as much as some of Aaron & Claire's other tteokbokki recipes. So, not a huge success overall, but I'll still make a note of it for compleness' sake.

Classic Tteokbokki

Slightly adapted from Aaron & Claire

Ingredients

• 600g tteokbokki (Korean rice cakes)
• 3 sheets of Korean fish cakes
• 4 green onions
• 3 c. water
• 1/2 Tbsp. dasida (Korean beef stock powder)
• 2-4 hard-boiled eggs

Seasoning Paste

• 2 Tbsp. gochugaru (Korean chile powder)
• 2 Tbsp. gochujang (Korean chile paste)
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 3 Tbsp. corn syrup
• 1 Tbsp. dasida (Korean beef stock powder)
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground

Directions

1. If your rice cakes are frozen, soak them in cold water for 20 minutes first.
2. Cut the fish cakes into bite-sized pieces and the green onions into long strips. Set aside.
3. Combine the gochugaru, gochujang, sugar, corn syrup, dasida, and black pepper for the seasoning paste. Mix well and set aside.
4. Combine the water with the 1/2 Tbsp. of dasida. Mix well and set aside.
5. Combine the tteokbokki, fish cakes, green onions, stock, seasoning paste, and hard-boiled eggs in a large pot and bring to a boil.
6. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until sauce is thickened and rice cakes reach desired doneness (10-13 minutes).

I was pretty tired when making this one and I think it came through in the final results. It was edible, but not great, honestly. And I've had "classic" tteokbokki before and liked it. Oh well... it happens. Maybe I'll make it again sometime or maybe I'll just stick with some of my more reliable tteokbokki recipes.

Classic Tteokbokki

Slightly adapted from Aaron & Calire

Ingredients

Flavour Paste

• 2 Tbsp. gochugaru (Korean chile flakes)
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 Tbsp. dasida
• 2 Tbsp. gochujang (Korean chile paste)
• 3 Tbsp. corn syrup
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground

Everything Else

• 600g tteokbokki (Korean-style/long cylinder rice cakes)
• 3 c. water
• 1/2 Tbsp. dasida
• 3 sheets Korean fish cakes, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 4 green onions, cut into 5cm lengths
• 2-4 hard-boiled eggs

Directions

1. Combine gochugaru, sugar, dasida, gochujang, corn syrup, and pepper. Mix well and set aside.
2. If using frozen rice cakes, soak in cold water for 20-30 minutes, then drain and set aside.
3. Combine the remaining 1/2 Tbsp. dasida with the water and mix well.
4. Combine rice cakes, stock, fish cakes, green onions, and eggs and bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally, until tteokbokki are cooked through (12-13 minutes).

Yesterday was a weird day. We were all pretty tired. Reiver spent the day in the office (rather than working from home). I didn't get enough sleep, forgot my meds, and was pretty much a zombie for the whole day. And the Kidlet was still recovering from whatever NZ hell-virus she contracted here. So we were all a little out of it and ended up eating at somewhat weird times.

Since lunch was relatively late and large, none of us felt like a very big dinner. (The Kidlet didn't actually want any dinner.) And I wasn't really feeling energetic enough to make anything too substantial anyway. That said, I knew that I'd want something before bed. So I decided to throw together this quick tteokbokki recipe along with some Korean-style corn cheese as a light supper later in the evening. I think it worked quite well (if I do say so myself)!

Photo goes here.

Fried Tteokbokki

From Aaron & Claire

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. gochugaru (Korean chile pepper flakes)
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 Tbsp. corn syrup or honey
• 1/2 Tbsp. gochujang (Korean chile paste)
• 1/2 Tbsp. oyster sauce
• 1/2 Tbsp. garlic paste
• black pepper, to taste
• 250g tteokbokki (Korean-style rice cakes)
• 1 Tbsp. oil
• 1 green onion, chopped
• 1-2 tsp. toasted sesame seeds

Directions

1. Combine gochugaru, sugar, corn syrup, gochujang, oyster sauce, garlic paste, and pepper and stir to combine.
2. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the tteokbokki. Boil until just tender (but still a bit chewy).
3. Drain the tteokbokki and toss with the sauce and oil.
4. Heat a pan over medium-low heat and add the tteokbokki along with the sauce.
5. Pan-fry, stirring often, until sauce is a bit caramelized¹ and tteokbokki is cooked through.
6. Sprinkle with green onion and sesame seeds and serve.

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¹ I didn't cook mine for long enough. The taste was still excellent, but it didn't get the crispy exterior that Claire raved about in the video. I was just too impatient to wait for the crust to develop. ^Back

Jjajang Tteokbokki

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.

Rabokki (Ramyun + Tteokbokki)

I had intended this to be a sort of fridge clean-out dinner. Sadly my fried tofu had gone off, so the protein was a little lacking. And I forgot to boil the egg in advance, so the everything else was bit overcooked by the time the egg was ready to go. It was still tasty, but it would've been improved by better planning and organization.

Rabokki

Slightly adapted from Aaron & Claire

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. gochugaru
• 2 1/2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 Tbsp. ramyun powder
• 2 Tbsp. gochujang
• 2 Tbsp. corn syrup
• 1 Tbsp. light (regular) soy sauce
• 1/2 Tbsp. oyster sauce
• 1 Tbsp. mirin
• 1/2 Tbsp. dashida (or beef stock concentrate)
• black pepper, to taste
• 200g rice cakes
• 2 Korean fish cakes (or fried tofu), cut into bite-sized pieces, divided
• 1 onion, sliced
• 2 green onions, sliced
• 3 c. water
• 1 c. cabbage, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1-2 hard-boiled egg(s)
• 1 package ramyun (soup kind)
• 2 slices cheese (optional)

Directions

1. Combine gochugaru, sugar, and 1/2 Tbsp. of powder from the ramyun.
2. Add gochujang, corn syrup, soy sauce, oyster sauce, mirin, dashida/beef stock, and pepper and stir to combine.
3. For best results, cover and chill overnight.
4. If using frozen rice cakes, soak them in cold water for 20 minutes, then drain.
5. Add rice cakes, half the fish cakes, half the onion, and half the green onions to a pot along with the water.
6. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
7. Cook for a couple minutes, stirring occasionally.
8. Reduce heat to low.
9. Andd the remining fish cakes, onion, and green onions.
10. Add the cabbage, egg(s), ramyun noodles, and falkes/dried veggies from the ramyun package.
11. If desired, top with cheese, sesame seeds, and more green onions.
12. Cook until noodles are done (2-3 minutes).
13. Serve with fried dumplings for dipping in the sauce.

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Variations

Vegetarian Version

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. gochugaru
• 2 1/2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 Tbsp. ramyun powder
• 2 Tbsp. gochujang
• 2 Tbsp. corn syrup
• 1 Tbsp. light (regular) soy sauce
• 1/2 Tbsp. vegetarian oyster sauce
• 1 Tbsp. mirin
• 1/2 Tbsp. vegetable stock concentrate
• black pepper, to taste
• 200g rice cakes
• 2 fried tofu, cut into bite-sized pieces/slices, divided
• 1 onion, sliced
• 2 green onions, sliced
• 3 c. water
• 1 c. cabbage, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1-2 hard-boiled egg(s)
• 1 package ramyun (soup kind)
• 2 slices cheese (optional)

Vegan Version

• 2 Tbsp. gochugaru
• 2 1/2 Tbsp. raw sugar or 5 1/2 tsp. agave syrup
• 1/2 Tbsp. ramyun powder
• 2 Tbsp. gochujang
• 2 Tbsp. corn syrup
• 1 Tbsp. light (regular) soy sauce
• 1/2 Tbsp. vegetarian oyster sauce
• 1 Tbsp. mirin
• 1/2 Tbsp. vegetable stock concentrate
• black pepper, to taste
• 200g rice cakes
• 2 fried tofu, cut into bite-sized pieces/slices, divided
• 1 onion, sliced
• 2 green onions, sliced
• 3 c. water
• 1 c. cabbage, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 package ramyun (soup kind)
• 2 slices non-dairy cheese (optional)

I had something else planned for dinner tonight, but then I couldn't get a bunch of the ingredients, so I had to come up with something else. My most recent trip to the Asian grocery store resulted in me coming home with a bag of frozen Korean-style rice cakes, so I decided to try one of Aaron and Claire's tteokbokki recipes. I was going to try to make the "classic" dish with the gochujiang sauce, but the Kidlet wasn't feeling up for anything spicy today, so I opted for this non-spicy soy sauce rendition instead. And then, because I wanted to turn it into a one-pot meal, I upped the protein a little bit and added a bunch of extra veggies.

Soy Sauce Tteokbokki

Adapted from Aaron & Claire

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 Tbsp. light soy sauce (or Korean regular soy sauce)
• 1 Tbsp. oyster sauce
• 1/2 Tbsp. mirin
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. sesame oil
• 2 Tbsp. oil
• 150g ground beef (or Beyond Meat)
• pepper, to taste
• 3 large shiitake mushrooms, chopped
• 1 carrot, minced
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 250g Korean-style rice cakes
• 1 c. green peas (optional)
• 2 or 3 baby bok choy, chopped (optional)
• 1 c. water
• 1 tsp. dark soy sauce (optional)
• 1 tsp. sesame seeds

Directions

1. If you're using frozen tteokbokki, soak them in cold water for ~20 minutes before proceeding with the recipe.
2. Mix sugar, light soy sauce, oyster sauce, mirin, garlic, and sesame oil in a bowl and set aside.
3. Heat the oil in a wok over medium heat.
4. Add the beef and stir-fry. Season to taste with pepper.
5. Add the mushroom, carrot, green onions, and rice cakes and stir-fry for ~1 minute.
6. Add the peas and bok choy (if using) and stir-fry for another 30 seconds.
7. Add the water and sauce, bring to a boil over medium heat, and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
8. Stir in dark soy sauce for a darker colour if desired.
9. Garnish with sesame seeds and serve.