After having watched so many Korean Dramas, I noticed that TTEOKBOKKI made its way into nearly every drama that I’ve watched! TTEOKBOKKI is Spicy Korean Rice Cakes. I grew up eating the Chinese version pretty often at home and my dad usually made it with pork belly, Napa cabbage, shiitake mushrooms, celery and scallion. I’ve eaten versions made with stir fried crab as well (my favorite version). All those variations were very good! Occasionally, it would make its way into soups as well.
This TTEOKBOKKI recipe is my own rendition of the original recipe that use anchovy and kelp to make a base broth; I used dashi broth. I guess you can say it’s a cheat version!
If you’ve been following me awhile now, you probably know I have miso paste and dashi in bulk at home because I regularly make miso soup at home. I have the wakame seaweed in bulk as well, but what I don’t have all the time is kelp or dried anchovies to make stock. I used to have the latter all the time before I had kids, as I would try to make my own Soondobu (Spicy Korean Tofu Stew) at home. I had the time then, to make broth using kelp and dried anchovies and time to strain and use that base for Soondobu.
Well, that’s how dashi came to be in my TTEOKBOKKI’s recipe. I use what I have at home all the time–I don’t really have time to make stock for the base in recipes. When I make soup, I seldom take anything out, that already gotten thrown in; if it made its way in, it usually just stays in. Dashi broth was the perfect shortcut here! It has that Unami flavor that the anchovy and kelp yields for the foundation of the dish, with no straining necessary!
I made it for the first time today and it’s a keeper for sure! I don’t even have to really list recipes or steps because its soooo simple! But I made one anyway for those who want to give this recipe a try!
Here goes the Picture Walk
Ingredients
Package of rice cakes (I used dried version)
3 cups water and 2 tsp Hon dashi (to make dashi broth)
3 tbsp gochuchuang
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar
Can of frozen crab meat (or use what it’s originally served with, Korean fish cake)
Sesame seeds (optional)
Mozzarella cheese (optional)
Boiled egg (optional- I think quail eggs would be amazing with this!)
*Note
I only had the dried packaged version of rice cakes, so I soaked it overnight in cold water and changed the soaking water once or twice in between just because its my first time making it and didn’t want it to go bad. Most recipes and my dad recommend using the one from the freezer section that you only have to soaks for maybe 10 minutes.
Steps
1- Soak rice cakes (10 minutes I read for frozen or overnight if dried )
2- Make the dashi broth with the 3 cups of water and dashi
3- Put in gochucjuang, soy sauce and sugar and bring to boil.
4- Throw in drained rice cakes and simmer for about 8-10 minutes (STIR regularly to prevent sticking to the bottom of the pan).
5- Stir in crab meat at the last minute to mix in– you can also use what’s usually used in this dish, Korean fish cake and/or boiled egg.
6- Mozzarella cheese shreds to sprinkle on top- I liked this creamy addition- I’ve eaten and seen cheese added to many Korean dishes like this and somehow tones down the spiciness a bit and makes it richer. However most recipes, don’t seem to call for this topping.
7-Sesame seeds to sprinkle on top if you’d like- I couldn’t find mine today so I didn’t use it, but I highly recommend it- it has the fragrant nutty flavor that would take the dish to another level of Unami.
I made broccoli banchan (side dish) to go with it because I had left over broccoli from the other night. I just seized a little sesame oil, rice vinegar and soy sauce to taste. So yummy!! Add the Japanese spicy red pepper topping if you want that spicy too.
Do you have a favorite Korean dish you like to make or eat?
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