17th December 2022
Hey there Vegans! Have you heard about Dukboggi/Tteokbokki? I only saw this food in Korean TV series way back when I was still in the Philippines, and I was too curious about its taste. When I finally tasted it, I kind've like it as I was like eating some glutinous rice cake. I'm a fan of any kind of rice cake.
Tteokbokki (떡볶이) is a popular Korean rice cake recipe made from Garae-tteok (가래떡), it's a long rice cake noodles cut into cylindrical shapes like shown in the photo below. I'm seeing some thin and flat-shaped Garae-tteok too in supermarkets. Tteok, by the way, is a Korean term for rice cake.
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Originally, Tteokbokki is cooked with a chili sauce but there are a lot of recipes nowadays with different varieties of flavors and ingredients. I, myself, have created my own Tteokbokki recipe. This is so easy to cook and it doesn't require long hours to prepare as well. So usually, when I don't have enough time to cook more decent food, or when too busy at work, I would simply take out Garae-tteok from the fridge and stir-fry it with some vegetables, then season it with anything I have in the pantry. My favorite vegetable to mix with Garae-tteok is sponge gourd cooked in chicken broth. That's an easy and yummy recipe.
So today, I'll share with you this Easy Korean Tteokbokki with Kimchi and Tofu Recipe.
You can choose any ingredients and seasonings you want for your Tteokbokki recipe. Since I'm not a fan of too spicy flavors, I choose kimchi. Some might say kimchi is spicy, but for me, it's not. Or probably depends on the brand? Not sure either. The spiciness of kimchi is bearable. It just has a not-so-appealing smell, but I like it as an accompaniment for noodles, fried foods, or mixed in cooking some dishes.
Other Ingredients for this recipe include shimeji mushrooms (hey ya @anggreklestari, I was referring to this mushroom in my previous comment on your post 😅), spinach, and tofu. I also added some ketchup to give more flavor and some sesame seeds for toppings.
The procedure is just so easy and you can finish this in less than 20 minutes.
The rolls of Garae-tteok in the pack are hard so you need to soften them before cooking by boiling them for a minute or two first. On one occasion, I discovered that I can actually directly throw the rice rolls into the pan and then fry them without the boiling process. They easily soften so don't overboil the rice rolls if you prefer that way.
Drain the water and set it aside. I usually put a little amount of oil when boiling rice rolls so they won't stick to each other. Another way is to rinse them with cold water after boiling them.
Next is to prepare the tofu. Some of you probably know that I am a fan of tofu. This is my alternative to meat when I'm on a strict diet. I just cut them into small cubes and then fry them until brown. I like the tofu to be crispy for this recipe so I made sure to fry all sides well.
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Afterward, stir-fry the vegetables using just a small amount of oil. Throw in the shimeji mushrooms first and add the spinach last since it is easier to cook. The mushroom is watery so you can just discard the excess water.
After pre-cooking the ingredients, it'd be faster to do the last process.
In a pan, saute the kimchi for a few seconds to a minute.
Add in the tofu and rice rolls. Then mix well with the kimchi.
Drizzle some ketchup to add more flavor and color. Initially, this should be kimchi sauce. But the kimchi we have at home is kind've dry and lacks sauce. So I opted to add ketchup to also give a little sweet flavor. Besides, the recipe would look too dry if I won't add any sauce to it.
Lastly, add the vegetables. You can season this with pepper or anything you want, but I didn't add anything.
Sprinkle some sesame seeds on top just to make it more appealing and add more taste. I like the taste of sesame seeds in every bite so I always have it in our pantry so I could use it as toppings for any dishes I like.
The taste was perfect for me. I like the combination of kimchi and ketchup here. There are different brands of kimchi though so the taste also varies depending on the brand you buy.
As simple as these ingredients and steps, you can have a yummy Korean Tteokbokki at home. I don't need to go to Korea to eat a Korean rice cake recipe, I can simply cook at home 😊. You can find Garae-tteok probably at Asian stores and supermarkets and look for different Tteokbokki recipes online to try.