Roasted Rice Cakes in Spicy-Tangy Sauce (떡 강정)

Once upon a time, I was a kid in Seoul looking forward to eating my almost-daily afternoon snack of rice cakes (떡볶이 - ddeok bok gi), that long strands of rice cakes in soupy, spicy sauce after school. My mom tried to make her healthier version of ddeokbokgi / tteokbokgi with lots of vegetables and milder sauce. But I just wished she would stop the trouble and give me more money so that I could run to a neighborhood stall and get more of that 'real' ddeokbokgi. Now I imagine that 'real' one had a substantial amount of sugar, corn syrup, and I wonder MSG, in the sauce. At the time, I thought I could live on ddeokbokgi alone (and I still go through this phase once in a while).

Then one day, there were food trucks popping up all over my neighborhood and school area with a different kind of rice cakes. The same long strands of rice cakes were skewered, deep-fried and brushed with spicy-tangy sauce. The rice cakes were crackly outside, pillowy inside with that sticky-spicy-tangy sauce. I found my new addiction. This was the best thing ever happened since sliced bread and long before I learned this expression.

My go-to comfort food at this point is back to my first love, the traditional preparation of ddeokbokgi with soupy, spicy sauce. But a Korean woman doesn't live on one rice cake dish alone. I've also found my own simple version of ddeok gang jeong (떡강정), a popular home snack in Korea and a reminder of that shocking new world I found when I first tasted the skewered, deep-fried rice cakes. It's my comfort food, a warm and plumpy afternoon snack, sometimes a simple dinner itself and an accompaniment for any drinking occasion.

Roasted Rice Cakes with Spicy-Tangy Sauce (떡 강정 - ddeok gang jeong)

Yields: 2 Side Servings

INGREDIENTS:
1 C Brown rice cake sticks*, cut to short sticks or bite-size pieces
1 T Neutral tasting oil such as canola or sunflower seed oil
1 T Walnuts, rougly chopped

1 Stalk Scallion, trimmed and thinly sliced
Sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds for garnish

Optional) 1 t Toasted sesame oil

Spicy-Tangy Sauce
1 T Korean red pepper paste (고추장 - go chu jang)
1 T Ketchup
1 t Honey
Feel free to adjust the ratio of gochujang and ketchup depending on your spicy preference.

DIRECTIONS:

1. If you're using frozen rice cakes, keep them immersed in cold water until you need them. Before using, drain and pat dry rice cakes with paper towel.

2. Make the sauce by mixing gochujang, ketchup and honey. Set aside.

3. Heat up a pan with oil over medium heat. When the oil starts shimmering, place the rice cakes in one layer. When the bottom turns crispy and golden brown, turn them around to get color all around. (You can stop here, just dip the crispy-warm rice cakes in honey for a traditional winter snack in Korea.)

4. When all sides turn crispy and golden brown, add walnuts. Cook for another minute or two, until you get the nutty smell. It doesn't take much time, so watch out.

5. Turn off the heat. Pour the sauce over the rice cakes and walnuts and mix quickly.

6. Sprinkle scallions and sesame seeds. If using, drizzle sesame oil. Serve hot.

* Handling Rice Cake Sticks

You will find a few different shapes and sizes of rice cakes in Korean grocery stores. The thinner sticks for making ddeokbokgi (also spelled as tteokbokgi, ddukbokki, topoki... but you get the idea) may be the most popular, well-known ones. You'll also find thin oval slices for ddeok guk (떡국), known as the new year soup but also enjoyed all year round. These packages are usually in the refrigerated section.

Sometimes you'll find fresh rice cake sticks along with other 'Daily-Made' section such as rice rolls (김밥 - kimbap) and lunch selections. If there is a separate Korean rice cake store, it's easier to find fresh ones there. The ones I used here are fresh brown rice sticks for the rice cake soup. Whenever I find fresh ones, I prefer those over the refrigerated ones.

I leave the fresh rice cakes out of the package for a few hours so that they dry out and harden a bit, which make it easier to cut, but you don't have to. After cutting, I put them in plastic bags and store in the freezer. I put the rice cakes in cold water as I start getting ready to cook them, about 20 minutes, then drain.

For this dish, I bought fresh brown rice sticks, the thicker ones called ga rae tteok (가래떡) usually used for the rice cake soup. Instead of the usual thin oval slices, I cut them to about the size of marshmallows. Feel free to use the thinner ones for ddeokbokgi (떡볶이) cut in half.

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