Drawing inspiration from tteokbokki, I often stir fry rice cakes in a spicy sauce made with gochujang. Although I don’t simmer the rice cakes in a sauce like for tteokbokki, the rice cakes still get a lot of flavor when I toss them with the gochujang sauce.
COOKING NOTES FOR SPICY RICE CAKES
GOCHUJANG
One of the key ingredients in this spicy rice cakes recipe is gochujang. I used Mother In Law’s gochujang for my recipe testing. You can also use gochujang that comes in the classic plastic red tubs, which you can find in Asian supermarkets.
VEGETABLES
In this recipe, I pair the rice cakes with sugar snap peas (because they’re in season) and red bell peppers for color. However, you can use any vegetables you have on hand. Other vegetables that work well for this recipe include snow peas, green beans, carrots, broccoli, or cabbage.
USING REFRIGERATED RICE CAKES
I often use refrigerated cylindrical rice cakes for the stir fry. Once refrigerated, the rice cakes harden. To restore their chewy texture, I like to soften them beforehand by soaking them in hot water for 2 minutes. Then, I drain the rice cakes before adding them to the stir fry. The cold rice cakes will take much longer to soften if you add them directly into the wok. Especially with cylindrical rice cakes, like tteokbokki tteok, the rice cakes might not heat up evenly. By the way, if you use the larger cylindrical rice cakes (garaetteok), I recommend slicing them up before stir frying them. You can also use pre-sliced rice cakes for this recipe.
WHAT TO SERVE WITH SPICY RICE CAKES
honey chili garlic shrimpteriyaki tofu
