Ddeokbokki

Duk Bo Ki, Ddeokbokki, Dduck Boki. ARG! Heres how you pronounce it: duck bow [as in arrow] key. I'm not really good at those korean to english translation spelling things. Korean cooking is simple and even less exact than American cooking. I was hungry so I asked my grandma to make me some of her duk bo ki. Then I figured that I should take pictures and measure how much of what went into the dish. When I asked her how much water did you put, how much is that, how much is this, she nearly went crazy. Most Korean people usually just cook with their eyes using how much looks enough.

There are many different ways to make duk bo ki. First of all, duk bo ki is plain rice cakes with either hot pepper paste (Gochujang), hot pepper flakes (Gochugaru), or both. You can usually count on it to be a red color from the pepper but today's was orange. My family's duk bo ki uses hot pepper flakes. My family's duk bo ki is also kind of on the watery side. It's not sweet at all and it's very spicy. Although all duk bo ki recipes are different, they are all spicy. Some, the ones that are not very much on the watery side are sweet. Some don't have water at all. Some are made by stir frying a little bit of oil while the kind I eat is made by simmering water.

Thawed rice cakes in simmering water

Everything added

Stired, and simmering for 3 minutes

Done!

Duk Bo Ki; serves 3

Ingredients:
2 cups of water

2 cups of rice cakes (top and bottom are 2 different types of rice cakes, either are fine), thawed

1/2 teaspoon of salt

2 heaping teaspoons of hot pepper flakes

1 sheet of dempura (fish cake), thawed

1/2 cup green onions, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

Directions:

In a sauce pan, simmer 2 cups of water on high. Add the thawed rice cake pieces into the water. Add the salt and hot pepper flakes. Cut the fish cake sheet into 8 pieces and add. Add the green onions and crushed garlic and stir. Stir for about 3-5 minutes or until the rice cake is squishy and done.

Footnote: You can also add carrots, onions, cabbages or whatever else you'd like. For a more festive look sprinkle with sesame seeds.