hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to foods from TV and film with a shot at the Korean street food dish “rabokki,” inspired by the Netflix series “Squid Games.” For those unfamiliar, tteokbokki in its simplest form features a Korean rice cake or “tteok,” which is then tossed in a quick gochujang and gochugaru sauce for a super quick, sweet and spicy, and carb heavy meal. This dish is commonly found in Korean nightmarket stalls and food booths to be eaten on the go, and here in the states, is also commonly found in Korean BBQ restaurants as a side dish or shared plate.
It can be elaborated on in endless variations, including additional elements like fish cakes, onions, scallions, hardboiled eggs, kimchi, cabbage, ham, carrots, cheese (that’s a weird one). For our version today though, we’re going with my personal favorite variation, which is a dish that’s colloquially referred to as rabokki, or essentially, tteokbokki with ramen added. Then we’ll be rounding it out with a homemade broth made from anchovy and dried kelp (or, if this is too intimidating for you, I have a handful of slightly simpler options as well). Hope you try it.
Serves 2-3
INGREDIENTS
10-12 tteok (korean rice cakes)
8 oz (2 bricks) ramen
1/2 medium white onion
2 green onions
4-6 oz (about 2 sheets) fish cake
4 eggs
sesame seed
INGREDIENTS (broth)
4 cups water
1/2 oz (about 2-3 sheets) dried kelp
1/2 cup dried anchovy
INGREDIENTS (sauce)
4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)
2 tbsp gochujang
1 tbsp gochugaru
1 tbsp brown sugar
4 cloves garlic
PREP
CRUSH and mince the garlic, set aside
SLICE the onions thinly, set aside
SLICE the green onions thinly, set aside
SLICE the fish cakes into 1 inch pieces, set aside
COMBINE all sauce ingredients and whisk into a smooth paste, then set aside
ON THE STOVE
BOIL a saucepan of water over medium heat and bring to a simmer, then softboil the eggs for 5 minutes and slice in half
COMBINE all broth ingredients in a wok, bring to a boil, and simmer for 30 minutes
REMOVE the anchovy and kelp from the broth
ADD the tteok to the broth, then cook for 5 minutes until fork tender
ADD the onions, ramen, and fish cakes to the wok, toss to loosen the ramen, and cook for an additional 2 minutes
ADD sauce to the wok and toss to combine
FINISH with eggs, sesame seeds, and green onions