[Korean] Soy Sauce Rice Cake, Royal Rice Cake

Soy Sauce Rice Cake, Royal Rice Cake (Serves 2)
      Korean name : goong-joong-ddeok-bok-ki
      It is believed that royal family of ancient Korea enjoyed this dish.
      Red sauce rice cake is more popular.




Ingredients [click here for details]
 
2 handfuls of rice cake, about 10 oz.
0.3lb of beef or pork
1/3 onion, sliced into 1*1 inch pieces
1 carrot, sliced
1/2 green bell pepper, sliced
2 Tbsp of Garlic, minced
2+1 Tbsp of Soy sauce
1+1 Tbsp of sugar 
1/2 +1/2 Tbsp of sesame seed dressing oil ( not cooking oil)
a pinch of ground pepper
[optional] various hard vegetables, I used one stem of celery.
[optional] 1 Thai pepper for hot flavor

Cooking Instruction

1. Cut up all the vegetables as mentioned above.


2. Marinate meat for 30 minutes with 1 Tbsp of soy sauce, 1 Tbsp of sugar, 1/2 Tbsp of Sesame seed oil, and a pinch of pepper. Originally beef sirloin is used, but other part of beef or pork can be used, too.


3. Cook rice cake in the boiling water for 2 minutes. Rice cake doesn't have to be cooked completely now. When it is soft, turn off the fire.


4. On a hot pan, put oil and minced garlic, and cook till garlic become translucent. If you desire, you can add Thai pepper for hot flavor.
I don't eat this pepper itself because it is too spicy. I just used it for flavor.
(Don't rub your eyes after you touch that chili: click here to see the scale of hotness of peppers.)


5. Add marinated meat till it is half done.


6. Put rice cake in a pan. Add 2 Tbsp of soy sauce, 1 Tbsp of sugar, 1 Tbsp of sesame oil, and a pinch of ground pepper. Stir well.


7. Put vegetables in order of decreasing hardness, i.e. put hard vegetables like carrots first then softer vegetables.


8. Cook till rice cake absorbs the sauce. Sauce should be shiny and sticky. I like to cook rice cake till a little crispy.




How to Serve

Put it in a large bowl.  You can eat it with kimchi as a meal, or with a cool glass of beer as a side dish.

[Korean] Green Tea Walnut Rice Cake Rolls

Green Tea Walnut Rice Cake Rolls (serves 2)
   Korean name : nohk-cha-ho-doo-chap-ssal-ddeok-roll
   Green tea : nohk-cha
    Walnut : ho-doo
    Sweet rice : chap-ssal
    Rice cake : ddeok




Ingredients [click here for details]

1 cup sweet rice flour
2/3 cup water
3 Tbsp sugar
1/3 cup walnuts, crushed (or any kind of nuts)
1 Tbsp Green tea powder (or ginger powder or cinnamon powder would be good, too)
canola oil


Cooking Instruction

1. In a bowl, mix 1 Tbsp of greem tea powder(or ginger/cinnamon powder) with crushed walnuts(or other nuts).


2. In another bowl, put 1 cup of sweet rice flour and 3 Tbsp of sugar.
Pour 1/2~2/3 cup of water in it, and stir well.


3. Put a piece of cling wrap over the bowl and poke a little hole in it for ventilation.
Microwave for 2 minutes.
After stirring, microwave for another 2 minutes.


4. Pour oil on a cutting board. Pour rice dough while hot.
Oil a piece of cling wrap completely, cover rice dough with it.
Roll rice flour into a thin sheet.






5. Distribute the walnut and green tea mixture evenly over the rice cake.


6. Roll it!



7. Slice it into 1 inch segments.




How to Serve

Display the rolls on a plate, and enjoy!

[Korean] Red Sauce Rice Cake

Red Sauce Rice Cake (serves 2)
  Korean name : Ddeok-bok-ki
  Rice cake : Ddeok



Ingredients [click here for details]

20 pieces of rice cake
(This could be depending upon rice cake makers, but I used about 10oz.)
1/4 large onion, sliced
2 handfuls of cabbage, sliced into large pieces
(I used lettuce, but cabbabe is better with this dish.)
2 green onions, cut into 2 inch pieces
1.5 Tbsp  Red pepper paste
1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
1Tbsp  minced garlic
1 Tbsp  corn syrup
(you can always substitute this with honey.)
1/2Tbsp  sugar
1 Tbsp red pepper flakes
a pinch of paprika powder
[optional]a little bit of any meat pieces, chopped (I used 2-of-thumb-size pork.)
[optional]1 sheet of 5*6 inch fish cake, sliced into large pieces
a pinch of sesame seeds and finely chopped green onion for garnish


Cooking Instruction

1. Put 1.5 Tbsp of Red pepper paste, 1 Tbsp of Soy Sauce,1Tbsp of minced garlic, 1 Tbsp of  malt syrup (or honey), and 1/2Tbsp  sugar in 1 cup of water on a skillet. Add meat to it, if you like. Bring it to boil.


2. When it boils, put rice cakes one by one in a pan.


3. When it boils again, put onion slices and cabbage. Add fish cake which is sliced into large pieces, if you desire. Bring it to boil again.




4. When it boils again, put 1Tbsp of red pepper flakes, a pinch of paprika powder and green onions. Mix well.




How to Serve

Put everything in the large bowl, add sesame and chopped green onion on the top for garnish.

[Korean]Rice Cake Wrapped in Pork Belly with Red Sauce

This is sweet chewy pork dish.
If you don't like spicy food at all, this might be hot for you.

Rice Cake Wrapped in Pork Belly with Red Sauce(serves 2)
    Korean name : sam-gyeop-sal ddeok-mal-ee
        pork belly : sam-gyeop-sal
        rice cake : ddeok
        food wrapped with something : mal-ee



Ingredients [click here for details]

0.75 lb pork belly slices
4 oz rice cakes, approximately
1/2 cup rice cooking wine, (you can substitute this with vodka.)
2 Tbsp red pepper paste
1.5 Tbsp garlic, minced
1 Tbsp Soy sauce
1 Tbsp dry white wine
1 Tbsp red pepper flakes
1/2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 Tbsp corn syrup, (you can substitute this with honey.)
a pinch of ground pepper
[optional] 1 tsp sesame seed dressing oil, brown (not yellow cooking oil)
[optional] a several pepper corns




Pork belly : you can buy one at Korean markets, or some big grocery stores.
 [click here for details]




Cooking Instruction

1. Thaw pork belly, and marinate it with 1/2 cup of cooking wine for about 30 minutes.  Add several pepper corns, if you have.
Pork belly slices should be long enough both to wrap rice cake and to stay in shape after the pork  shrinks when it's heated.


2. Thaw as many frozen dried rice cake sticks as pork slices , and heat it in the boiling water for short time till water bubbles appear. Rinse it with cold running water, and set aside.



(a picture when a several bubbles come up) 



3. Smooth a pork slice with your finger to make it longer and thinner.



4. Dip one end of pork in corn starch to help it stay wrapped.


5. Roll rice cake in the meat.



6. Cook these in a skillet till meat is done. Be careful not to unroll them. Drain pork fat.


7. To make a sauce, mix 2 Tbsp of red pepper paste, 1.5 Tbsp of minced garlic, 1 Tbsp of Soy sauce, 1 Tbsp of dry white wine, 1 Tbsp of red pepper flakes, 1/2 Tbsp of sugar, 1/2 Tbsp malt syrup (or honey), 1/2 Tbsp of brown sesame seed oil, and a pinch of ground pepper.


8. Cook meat with sauce till the sauce becomes brown.




How to Serve
as a meal:
Carefully display them on a large plate. For a side dish, any fresh vegetables, such as carrot sticks, would be good since the meat has strong taste. You can add some starch, like steamed rice. You can also eat some raw sliced garlic.


as a side dish for drinking: A side dish for drinking is called 'ahn-joo'. Koreans usually eat some main dish type foods when drinking.