Cheesy cabbage tteokbokki
Chewy rice cakes in a hot pink bath, under a duvet of melted cheese.
At a Glance
Story
Tteokbokki is Korean street food at its most unrepentant, rice cakes simmered in a fierce gochujang sauce. The cheese version is not a Western liberty, it is genuinely beloved in Korea, where the melted blanket tames the fire into something almost obscene. If your rice cakes are frozen or dried, soak them in warm water for 20 minutes first so they turn tender rather than gummy.
Ingredients
- 12 oz Korean rice cakes (tteok)
- 2 tbsp gochujang
- 1 tbsp gochugaruKorean chili flakes, or 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 3 cloves garlicgrated
- 2 cup chicken stock or water
- ¼ small green cabbagethickly sliced
- 4 scallionscut into batons
- 4 oz low-moisture mozzarellagrated
- toasted sesame seeds and a drizzle of sesame oilto finish
- salt
Method
The sauce should end up glossy and clinging, not soupy. The rice cakes release starch as they cook and thicken it themselves, so resist the urge to add flour or cornstarch.
- If using fresh rice cakes, rinse and separate them. Frozen or dried want a 20-minute soak in warm water first.
- In a wide skillet whisk the gochujang, gochugaru, soy and sugar into the stock and bring to a simmer over medium high. Add the garlic and the cabbage and cook 4 minutes until the cabbage slumps.
- Tip in the rice cakes and simmer, stirring often so they do not stick, 8 to 10 minutes until they are chewy-tender and the sauce has reduced to a glossy coat. It thickens as the rice cakes give up their starch, which is why no thickener is wanted.
- Fold in the scallions. Taste for salt, then scatter the mozzarella over the top, cover for a minute to melt it, or slide the pan under a hot broiler if you want it blistered and browned.
- Finish with sesame seeds and a thread of sesame oil.
Eat straight from the pan while the cheese still pulls. Sharing is optional and, frankly, discouraged.
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