Korean★ quick & simple
Tteokbokki 떡볶이
The sauce should be thick enough to coat a rice cake and stay there. Most people give up too early, while it is still watery and sharp. Another three minutes and the sugar catches up with the gochujang.
- Serves
- 2
- Prep
- 10 min
- Cook
- 15 min
Ingredients
Broth
- 500ml water
- 6 dried anchovies, heads and guts removed
- 1 piece dried kelp, about 10cm square
Sauce
- 3 tbsp gochujang
- 1 tbsp gochugaru
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
The rest
- 400g cylindrical rice cakes (tteok)
- 2 sheets fish cake, cut into wide strips
- 2 spring onions, cut into 5cm lengths
- 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds
Method
- If the rice cakes are refrigerated or frozen, soak them in cold water for 20 minutes so they soften evenly. Fresh ones can go straight in.
- Simmer the water, anchovies and kelp for 10 minutes, then lift out the solids. Pull the kelp early if it starts to go slippery.
- Stir the sauce ingredients into the broth and bring to a boil.
- Add the rice cakes and fish cake. Simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring often so nothing sticks to the base.
- Keep going until the sauce thickens and turns glossy and darker red. It should coat a rice cake rather than run off it. This is the part worth waiting for.
- Add the spring onions, cook one more minute, then finish with sesame seeds.
Anchovy broth is what separates this from the version made with plain water. It takes ten minutes and you can make it while the rice cakes soak.
For the cheese version in the photograph, scatter a handful of grated mozzarella over the top at the end, cover the pan, and leave it on the lowest heat for two minutes until it slumps.
Leftover sauce is good on almost anything. Boiled eggs, in particular, belong in the pan for the last five minutes.