Hot Spicy Rice Cake

This is the recipe that i got from Maangchi website . And this is how i learn of my korean cooking too . She had a video of how you can try making your own rice cake . To tell you the truth i am not really into rice cake . And i think i know why , because i never made my own rice cake . All the rice cake i used to cooking was always from the store . It’s a frozen store bought rice cake .

So Maangchi website teaches us how to make your own rice cake , and to my surprised it was quite easy . As long as you have what they call frozen rice flour , then you’re all set to go . But the problem is , i had a hard time finding frozen rice cake at the store everytime i visited the korean market . I finally found someone and i thought i would just ask anyway , it was there all along , hidden , underneath any other things . So i picked it up , and i bought it , and that night i decided to make them .

They’re not hard to make , all i needed was 2 cups of frozen rice flour , with 3/4 cup of boiling hot water , and pinch of salt , and as long as you have a microwave , the job is even easier !! Cover it with a plastic wrap with a little opening to let the steam out and you’re all set . Mix it out and microwave it for another 2 minutes , then it’s time to pound them . According to maangchi , the more you pound them , the chewier they get . So i pounded them about 4-5 minutes . And i kneaded them afterwards .

Now time to shape them , if you’re a perfectionist like me , it’s going to take a long time to shape them . Into the right length , right width , and everything . But it’s kinda fun , it’s like playing with dough . Anyway , as much as i wanted my rice cake to be perfect , some of them didn’t turn out as pretty as i wanted to be , mainly because i just didn’t have the patience that night , i was hungry and i was ready for dinner , although the dinner was not the rice cake !!

Anyway , here is how my rice cake turned out , it’s a cylinder shape rice cake , or as the koreans call it , Garraeddeok .

My rice cake look pretty chubby 😀

So , all my rice cake went to the fridge that night , and stayed there for about 3 days before i remember that i had rice cake in the fridge that i probably be best to use it as soon as possible . I would think it’ll get moldy if i leave it there too long , or i can always freeze them to last longer . But i was in the mood of some cooking that afternoon . I ended up making hot and spicy rice cake for my lunch . The Koreans call this Ddeokboekki .

I have made hot spicy rice cake before and to me it wasn’t really that tasty . It was just ‘ meh’ and ‘okay’ moment . I had high expectation back then , this was a year ago when i used the store bought rice cake to make ddeokbokki . So , i kinda toned down my expectation a little bit this time , i made the anchovy broth , with 7 dried anchovy and dried kelp along with 4 cups of water , and boil for about 15 minutes . After removing them all , i added the rice cake , all the ones i made the night before , it was only about 1 lb , and i added 1/3 cup of hot pepper paste and 1 tbsp. of sugar along with 1 tbsp. of hot pepper flakes . And boil it again for 10 minutes .

Then the moment of truth .. i took a bite and to my surprised it was very delicious , the rice cake especially was chewy but not so chewy to the point where it got bigger and bigger when you’re chewing them . No , it wasn’t like that .. it is chewy and delicious and just a great texture overall . Def it makes a huge difference how i like the dish now . I loved it !! In fact i wouldn’t even care with fish cake added into the meal , it will be just great with home made rice cake itself .

SO , my suggestion for those of you who likes hot and spicy rice cake , it is def. worth to make rice cake on your own rather than buying it from the store .