Hello peeps!

Glad to be back! I was actually wondering if one new post a week is good… Should I post more often? Like, two times a week? Let me know what you prefer!

Before we get into this week’s recipe, I have to confess something. I am absolutely obsessed with Korean Dramas. They are so weirdly addictive! I got a premium account on Dramafever just because I was binge watching so much… That being said, my obsession is actually paying off, in food form. They are eating such cool looking things that I neeeeeeed to try. Since Korean restaurants are pretty scarce where I live, I am making my own. It’s usually good, although I do wish I could compare to the real deal.

I discovered ”Tteokbokki” while watching the drama ”High School- Love on”, as the Grandma is the owner of a tteokbokki restaurant. I was craving some, but I had a bit of trouble getting all the ingredients. I did it though, and it’s fairly easy to make!

Turns out, it’s really good, but also ridiculously spicy. I can handle it for a small portion, but it’s some serious spice… My husband declared (after my second, less spicy try) that he was out of any future tteokbokki experiments…

I shall share with you my first recipe, I assume it’s closer to what you would actually get in Korea.

Tteokbokki

(makes 4 small portions, or like, 1 giant portion, I’m not judging you)

Ingredients

– 1 bag of tubular rice cakes

– 1 sheet of fish cake

– 3 tbsp of Gochujang paste

– About 3 cups of water

– 2 tsp of crushed/ minced garlic

– 1 tbsp corn syrup

– 1 tbsp sugar

– 1 tbsp soy sauce (I used light soy sauce)

– 1-2 green onions

– 1 tbsp sesame seeds

** Most recipes also added Korean pepper flakes to the recipe, I didn’t because I didn’t want to die…

*** You can also add cabbage, I didn’t because I didn’t have any….

How to

1. If your rice cakes are hard, soak them in water for 15-30 minutes, mine were frozen, so I mostly thawed them, then soaked them for about 15 minutes.

2. Add the water to a pan and all the ingredients for the sauce (except the sesame seeds) and bring to a boil. You may need to whisk the gochujang paste to dissolve it completely as it’s pretty thick and sticky.

3. When boiling, turn the heat down to medium and add the rice cakes.

4. While the rice cakes are cooking, chop the veggies and fish cakes for them to be about bite size (except the green onions, they’re for decoration, or garnish, if you’d like to fancy it up)

5. When the rice cakes are almost done and the sauce is thicker (about 10 minutes), add in the veggies and fish cakes.

6. Cook until the sauce is really thick and is coating the rice cakes.

7. Serve with sesame seeds and green onions on top.

8. EAT ALL THE RICE CAKES (and burn your mouth in the process)

** Note: Rice cakes are sticky, so you’ll need to stir pretty much the whole time.

Prepare to be amazed, it’s ridiculously spicy, but in a weird way. My husband loves Jalapenos peppers and he said to me that this is a building spiciness. Jalapenos are instantly burning, whereas tteokbokkis are insidiously burning…

If you are used to spicy food, you should be fine. If you’re not, well, you’ll get used to it! Fighting!

I hope that I made you hungry! Let me know if you try these, I want to know if the spicyness is actually hell-like or if I’m just a wimp (my money is on the wimp…)

Also, if you so happen to want to dive into the K-Drama world, I suggest you go check out http://www.dramafever.com you can watch for free with ads or get a premium account for pretty cheap. Before long you’ll catch yourself binge-watching for days on end… And don’t worry, you get used to the subtitles really quickly! EDIT: Dramafever has actually closed down in late 2018. I suggest ”On Demand Korea” or VIKI for your KDrama fix. Netflix is starting to have a pretty decent collection too.

I hope you guys have a great week! I’ll see you next time!

Andreanne