Recipe 2: How Do I Spell This Again?

Here we go for Recipe number 2, 떡볶이, also know as ddeokbokki, teokbokki, topokki and dukboki. I have gone for the Korean name above as romanizations are confusing me more and more these days. My Korean skills are still pretty patchy, but I much prefer to read the Korean over searching for the romanizations - I feel it leaves less room for error (but there will always be error, at least for the time being.) But I digress...

떡볶이 is my ultimate lazy food. It's also a classic street food. Meandering around, especially in busy areas, it's not uncommon to find a wee canopied stall with a smiling lady mixing up her 떡볶이, it's a cheap and delicious way to grab a snack. Then there are the 떡볶이 restaurants where all sorts of options can be added to you 떡볶이 and you can munch away as it sizzles away in front of you. 

Have I ever mentioned how much I love the way so much of the food here is cooked on the table, right in front of you. It makes eating out a much more enjoyable and social experience. There really are a lot of things that Korea does right! But I digress... again...!!!

Back to 떡볶이... what do you need: 

Ingredients

• 떡 (here-after called rice cakes.) These are pretty essential (as if that wasn't obvious from the name) and come in an array of shapes and sizes. Personally I'm a fan of the tubular ones! 
• Red Pepper Paste
• Red Pepper Flakes
• Sugar
• Fish Cake
• Green Onion / Leek
• Boiled Eggs
• Water
• Dried Anchovies
• Dried Seaweed

First you need to make the stock. This is wonderfully simple (and used for many Korean recipes, so it's good to know.) Take your anchovies and seaweed and put what you need in a pan. I now do this by eye, but you don't need much. My advice is the same as that given to me by a bread baker many years ago: Add as much as you think you need, then add a little bit more. Throw them into a pan, add as much water as you think you need (depending on how many people you're cooking for) and let it boil. Again, as long as you feel it needs. 

When you're happy it's boiled enough REMOVE THE ANCHOVIES AND SEAWEED! Don't forget to do this - it's not pleasant! 

Gather the rest of the ingredients: 

Make a paste using: 

1tbsp hot pepper paste

1tsp pepper flakes

1tsp sugar

and mix it all up!

Chop the fish cake into chunks, gather as many rice cakes as you want/need and cut the green onion/leeks so that they're in long sticks, but make sure you score down one side, not enough to slice them in half, but enough so that they will separate during cooking. 

Now throw all of these into the pan and stir away. 

You don't have to add boiled eggs, but they add a nice extra texture. I've used wee quail eggs here, with are mighty easy to get hold of down in your local mart! I usually add these towards the end of the cooking process. 

When it's cooked the 떡볶이 should be soft and chewy (in a good way). Serve up and munch away.

You can mix it up as you like: add some ramyeon, some chicken or some cheese (or all three as per my first 떡볶이 experience). The possibilities are endless, but sometimes plain and simple, and very very spicy, is best!