Today is National Rice Cake day, and originally we were scratching our heads as to how to provide an interesting spin on a food item that is consistently compared to Styrofoam. Well, it didn’t take long to find a way. While it may not be as nutritious as the typical American rice cake, the Korean’s certainly made it taste better.

Spicy Tteokbokki (Spicy Long Rice Cake)

Prep Time: 30 minutes | Yield: 4-5 servings

Ingredients:

  • 1 pack tube-shaped tteok, approximately 1 lb
  • 1 pack fish cake
  • 1 medium-sized round onion
  • ¼ cabbage
  • 4 shiitake mushrooms
  • 2 stalks celery
  • 1 carrot
Yangnyeom sauce ingredients:
  • 3 tbsp soy sauce
  • 3 tbsp hot pepper paste
  • 1 tbsp minced garlic, 2 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp whole roasted sesame seed

Directions:

Cut tteok into bite sized pieces and soak.

Cut cabbage, onion, carrot, celery and shiitake mushrooms into thin slices.

Place all of the cut vegetables into a wide saucepan. Drain the tteok and add to the top of the saucepan. Cover and cook on medium heat for about 8-10 min. When the mixture begins to steam, open the lid and add the yangnyeom jang (sauce mixture) and mix well.

Be sure to serve this dish hot. Tteok isn’t good when it hardens. If you refrigerate, make sure you heat thoroughly so that the tteok softens.