Tteok-bokki (Spicy Korean Rice Cake)

Tteok-bokki is a Korean's all time favourite comfort food. It began as a humble street food, but now it's evolved into franchised stores as well as fusion styles. There are a number of styles of Tteok-bokki, each street, district, city and province has their own unique recipes. 

Here we created our version of Tteok-bokki and we hope you enjoy making and eating it!  

Ingredients

2.5 Cup Rice cakes ***

2-3 sheets Fish cakes ****

1 Cup Thick slices of green cabbage (Optional, add sweetness and  crunch texture)      

Quarter of an onion sliced

2 strips of green onions chopped

sesame seeds 

Sauce

1 Tbsp Cooking oil (Sunflower seed/grapeseed/rice bran/avocado, etc.)

3.5 Tbsp Gochujang  (or our seasonal strawberry Gochujang)

(optional) 1/2 Tbsp All-Purpose Gochujang Sauce 

2-3 Tbsp Gochugaru (Korean red chili pepper)*

2 Tbsp Soy sauce (or Gluten free Tamari)

1 Tbsp Maple syrup/Brown rice syrup/Honey/Agave syrup/sugar (opt for your preference)

3 Cups Water or kelp broth**

Black pepper

(Optional) 1/4 tsp Curry powder (A little goes a long way. Surprisingly enhance the flavour of the dish)

*Gochugaru is sold at your local Korean markets. Both coarse and fine work.

**You can simply make kelp broth by soaking a sheet of kelp in water prior to cooking or simply add a small square of kelp in the pan and cook together. 

*** Korean rice cakes are often found at your local Korean markets or fairway markets if you live in Victoria, BC, Canada. Both cylinder or sliced button types work. We used the cylinder type as featured in the picture. Here is the example of the product, we prefer this brand but any brand's should work just same (we are not affiliated with this brand, it is just simply our preference).

****For vegan option, you can opt out or substitute with more cabbage or mushrooms. There is a square shape of fish cakes found in Korean markets, but you can use fish balls if you want.                               

Instructions: 

1. Prepare the onion, green onion, cabbage. 
2. Wash the fish cake in hot running water to wash off excess oil and cut into however size and shape you want. 
3. In a deep pan or wok, drizzle oil on low heat, then add gochujang. Stir gently to caramelize the Gochujang in oil for a minute. 
4. Turn up the stove to medium high heat, then add soy sauce or tamari, All purpose Gochujang Sauce (if you have it), Gochugaru, and your choice of sweetener.
5. Pour water or kelp broth and sliced onion in the pan. if you are using curry powder, you can add it at this step.
6. Put rice cakes and fish cakes in the pan and cook until the rice cakes are soft while stirring to prevent the rice cakes from sticking to the bottom.
7. When the rice cakes are soft and the fish cakes are expanded, add the cabbage, and green onions. 
8. Cook for another 2 minutes or so until the cabbage is slightly wilted and cooked. 
9. Turn off the stove and finish with sprinkles of toasted sesame seeds and black pepper.