It’s the first Pinterest Challenge Blog Hop of 2019 and I’m excited to share a tasty dish that I absolutely LOVE…Cheese Tteokbokki (stir fried rice cakes)!
If this is your first time visiting the Pinterest Challenge Blog Hop, it’s all about encouraging and motivating the participants of this hop (and you too) to not just pin, but to make it happen! You can visit my other Pinterest Challenge posts and see what pins inspired me below…
- January 2018 – One Skillet Chicken with Lemon Garlic Cream Sauce
- February 2018 – Dollar Tree St. Patrick’s Day Wreath
- March 2018 – Bourbon Chicken with Vegetables
- April 2018 – Mini Hoop Seashell Wall Hanging
- May 2018 – Giant Mochi Ice Cream
- June 2018 – Matcha Mousse
- July 2018 – Savory Vegetable Pancakes
- August 2018 – Jumbo Jello Gummy Bears
- September 2018 – Halloween Candy Popcorn
- October 2018 – Halloween Plastic Tablecloth Wreath
- November 2018 – Apple Pie Hotteok
- December 2018 – Christmas BINGO Gift Exchange Game
- January 2019 – Cheese Tteokbokki
Cheese Tteokbokki
The pin that inspired this recipe is from Korean Bapsang, which has a ton of wonderfully delicious Korean recipes. If you love Korean food, you HAVE to visit and try out her recipes…so good! Anyway, we’re here to talk about tteokbokki, a popular Korean street food. It’s basically rice cakes that swim in a spicy sauce. For an in depth explanation and information on ingredients, head to Korean Bapsang.
Before getting to the recipe, I want to talk about the cylinder rice cakes (garaetteok) used in tteokbokki. If you’ve never had Korean rice cakes, the texture is similar to Japanese mochi, but without the sugar. Korean rice cakes used in tteokbokki are made with rice flour and water and have a soft, chewy texture.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve made cheese tteokbokki. The combo of tteokbokki and marinated meat is awesome and takes things to another flavor level when eaten together. However, tteokbokki can be a bit spicy, at least to my teens, so I temper the spiciness with a bit of cheese. The cheese seems to really help balance out the spiciness and who doesn’t love ooey gooey cheese?!
If you like spicy foods, I think you’ll really enjoy this Korean dish. And for more Pin inspired ideas, make sure to check out the link below.
Cheese Tteokbokki
Rice cakes in spicy sauce - Korean street food.
Ingredients
- 24 pieces rice cakes - about 1/2 a 23 oz. bag
- 1 sheet fish cake - optional
- 3 cups rough chopped cabbage
- 3-4 stalks green onion - chopped 2" length
- 3 cups water
- 3 tsp. Hondashi (bonito fish stock) - optional
- 3 Tbsp. gochujang paste (Korean chili pepper paste)
- 1 Tbsp. gochujaru (Korean chili flakes) - optional
- 2 Tbsp. sugar
- 2 Tbsp. corn syrup
- 1 Tbsp. soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp. minced garlic
- 1/4 - 1/2 cup Mexican blend shredded cheese
Instructions
- Prep - Soak frozen rice cakes in hot water for 15 minutes. Rinse and set aside. Rough chop about a quarter of a small head of cabbage or about 3 cups of cabbage into about 1" x 3" bite size pieces. Rinse, drain, and set aside. Quarter the fish cake sheets and then slice into about 2" x 1/2" pieces. Cut green onions into 1 1/2" pieces.
- In a large pan, add water, hondashi, gochujang, gochugaru, sugar, corn syrup, soy, and garlic. Stir and bring the mix to a boil over medium high heat. Add rice cakes and cook for another 10 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent the rice cakes from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
- Reduce heat to medium. Add cabbage and fish cakes. Cook additional 10 minutes, again stirring often. Turn heat off and sprinkle cheese and green onions on top of the rices cakes and cabbage. Serve in pan or scoop into serving bowls.
Notes
- Mexican cheese blend helps to temper the heat from the chili paste and falkes. A blend of Monterey jack and cheddar will work too.
- Frozen rice cakes can be found in most Asian markets in the freezer section.
- Leave out the gochugaru if you prefer less spicy foods.
- Don't skip the green onions. It gives this a fresh taste that's a must.
- I use coarse gochugaru in this recipe.
Recommended Products
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12" Stone Earth Frying Pan by Ozeri, with 100% APEO & PFOA-Free Stone-Derived Non-Stick Coating from Germany -
Sempio Hot Pepper Paste (Gochujang) (1.1 lbs) -
Korean Red Chili, Gochugaru, Hot Pepper Coarse Powder Flakes (1 Lb) -
Korean Red Chili, Gochugaru, Hot Pepper Fine Type Powder (1 Lb) By Tae-kyung -
Ajinomoto Soup Stock Hondashi
It looks really good but sounds even better. Would love to try one day. Pinning.
Oh boy, the meal you’ve put together looks really mouthwatering. I pinned it to inspire not just myself, but others to recreate it one day.
This looks amazing! My love of small plates runs the whole gamut from tapas to mezze to banchan. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen those rice cakes in the local Asian market so I’ll be sure to look for them next time I’m there. I’m anxious to give this a try!
I love spicy food – this is definitely a must try!
Looks delicious, I’ll have to check out the world food aisle and see if I can find rice cakes like this. We all like spicy food so this would be a great family meal for us to try.
I love trying new food and flavors. This looks so tasty.
This looks tasty, although to be honest, I’d eat just about anything as long as cheese is involved!
At first I was picturing American rice cakes– those flat crunchy round disks and wondering how you marinate them! LOL. So glad you explained. Your way sounds much better and looks yummy. Thanks so much for sharing with us. Pinned.
I almost didn’t take a picture of the rice cakes, but I figured it would help to know what they look like when buying them. There are other shapes that work too, but it’s traditional with the cylinder shape. I love this as it makes a great lunch/snack.
Your recipes always make me hungry. This looks delicious. I’m coming over for dinner.
It would be so fun if you could 🙂
Ooh, yum1! My family and I LOVE Korean food, and a Korean food grocery has recently opened near our house. I will definitely be sharing this recipe. Pinning!
If you like spicy food, this is a winner. I also add boiled eggs in this too and love it.