Cheesy, Spicy Rose Tteokbokki & Making Tteokbokki From Rice Paper!

Rose Tteokbokki is a cheesy, creamy spicy version of tteokbokki, the popular Korean rice cake dish. Here I'll show you how to make the original style of tteokbokki as well as the rose version of Tteokbokki(with the addition of just one ingredient!) that tastes just like your favourite Korean restaurant! I'll also show you how to make unbelievably good Tteokbokki from scratch using rice paper.

Tteokbokki are rice cakes shaped in short cylinders. They have a wonderfully chewy texture to them but did you know that you can easily make these with rice paper? Yes the same rice paper that you make Vietnamese fresh springs rolls from! Original Tteokbokki is usually cooked with a seafood stock with fish cakes and noodles. Melted cheese is optional (but not optional IYKWIM haha). Rose tteokbokki however has one difference: one cup of stock is replaced with cream. You can definitely use light cream or evaporated milk in place of cream if you want to lower the fat content. Also the sauce thickens up as we use a cake of ramen in this recipe too.

Mr NQN absolutely loves this tteokbokki dish and while he really enjoyed the original one he absolutely LOVED the rose tteokbokki. Rose tteokbokki was actually inspired by the Italian American dish of pasta alla vodka where cream is added to a tomato based sauce. I love both but the rose tteokbokki is fantastic when the weather is really cold and you need that extra layer of warmth and cream.

Adaptions of Tteokbokki

1 - You can use dashi, fish or chicken stock for this. Mr NQN prefers chicken stock as he doesn't like fishy flavours so if you are the same use chicken stock.

2 - We try not to eat too many frankfurters (if we are eating cured or processed meat we have salami haha) so I replace these with steamed dumplings. You can also use buldak chicken if you want something even healthier!

3- If you use rice paper tteokbokki, the sauce won't thicken by itself so adding the ramen noodles will help to thicken the sauce. If you omit the noodles then you can thicken the sauce using a mixture of 1 teaspoon cornflour/fine cornstarch and 2 teaspoons of cold water. Add this in the final step before you add the cheese.

Gochujang is a fundamental flavour base of some of the best Korean dishes. It's made from gochu-garu (chili powder), glutinous rice, fermented soybeans, sugar and salt and is sweet, intense and salty. Keep it in the fridge but make sure to leave the foil and paper layer on top of the gochujang as it dries out quickly.

Mr NQN and I often have opposite tastes for food. He loves creamy and sweet and while I love creamy, I much prefer salty flavours to sweet ones. Also because I recently received a high cholesterol result (sadly genetic, my father has it), I tend to steer clear of creamy food (unless it's my weakness, pastry) while Mr NQN seems fine. I don't know if it has to do with the fact that he runs and does wing foiling every weekend. I do HIIT 6 days a week but it doesn't seem to help me. We really are opposites on every facet but there's one thing that I don't really notice until I am presented with incontrovertible evidence i.e. a photo.

Mr NQN is 6 foot 2 inches tall while I am 5 feet tall. Yet for some reason I believe that we are the same height. I don't feel like I am short at all and I think I'm around the same height as most people. The only time that I realise this is when I see photos of us together and wonder, "Who is that short person?". Recently we saw a wedding picture of some friends E and M and they have a huge height difference. "Is that what we look like?" I said to Mr NQN and he nodded. Perhaps it's a Napoleon complex although I feel no need to conquer worlds, it's just a bit of delulu!

So tell me Dear Reader, are you ever surprised when you see a picture of yourself? What are you delulu about? Have you ever tried rose tteokbokki or regular tteokbokki?

Rose Tteokbokki and Original Tteokbokki

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

• 150g/5ozs pack rice paper or 250g/8.8ozs ready made frozen tteokbokki rice cakes (soak ready made ones in water for 30 minutes before using)
• 2 teaspoons oil for frying
• 60g/2ozs white onion, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and diced
• 1 tablespoon gochujang (1.5 tablespoons for rose tteokbokki)
• 2.5 cups/625ml/1.3pints dashi or chicken stock (replace 1 cup with light cream for rose ttekbokki)
• 1 tablespoon Korean chilli powder (Gochugaru)*
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar (or to taste)
• 100g/3.5ozs Korean fish cake (2 sheets)*
• 6 dumplings, steamed (or Korean frankfurts)*
• 130g/4.6ozs ramen or instant noodle cake
• 1 stalk green onion, sliced
• 1 cup/100g/3.5ozs grated mozzarella cheese

Buyer's tip: Korean fish cakes, tteokbokki and Korean frankfurts can be found in the freezer section at Korean grocery stores and large Asian grocery stores. Dashi powder and Gochugaru will be on the shelf. Nowadays rice paper and gochujang can be found at the supermarket (and of course at Asian grocery stores)

Step 1 - To make tteokbokki from scratch, clear some bench space and have a bowl of cold tap water ready. Dip a sheet of rice paper into the water shaking excess water off. Place on the bench surface and then dip a second sheet in water, shake and lay it on top of the other sheet to form a double layer. Repeat this with other sheets, as many as your bench will fit (I usually make three at a time as shown).

Step 2 - Once soft and pliable, roll the rice paper up from one end. If there are bubbles, prick a small hole with the tip of a knife and roll up tightly. Move to the side and repeat until you get 9 or 10 long logs. Trim off the ends (you can keep them on too, they will just look a bit untidy) and then cut the log into three even sized smaller logs around 5cm/2inches long. Set aside.

Step 3 - Cut fish cakes into small triangles. Place a large frypan with high sides on medium heat. Add the oil and fry the onion for a couple of minutes until softened. Add the garlic and fry for 1 minute. Then add the gochujang and half of the stock (or cream if you are making rose tteokbokki) whisking to combine the two. Once the gochujang has melted into the stock or cream add the remaining stock. Add the chilli powder, soy sauce and sugar and bring to a simmer.

Step 4 - Add the fish cakes and tteokbokki and stir to combine and then make a space in the centre for the noodles and submerge. After 4 minutes, turn the noodle cake over so that the noodles become fully cooked on both sides. The flour in the noodles will also thicken the sauce. Once noodles are done sprinkle over the green onions and mozzarella cheese and place lid on the pan to assist the cheese melting. Serve once cheese has melted.