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A home-cooked serving of rose tteokbokki, rice cakes coated in a creamy pink-orange gochujang-cream sauce

Rose Tteokbokki

A rose tteokbokki recipe that keeps the gochujang doing the work instead of drowning it in cream, plus how the trend spread and where it can go wrong.
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings: 2
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Korean
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 500 g / 1 lb garae-tteok, cylindrical rice cakes
  • 300 ml / 1 1/4 cups anchovy-and-kelp broth or water
  • 2 tbsp gochujang (about half of what a plain tteokbokki uses — the cream is going to round it out, not hide it)
  • 1 tsp gochugaru Substitute: 1/2 tsp sweet paprika plus a pinch of cayenne
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp minced garlic
  • 120 ml / 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 100 g / 2 sheets eomuk fish cake, or 4 slices bacon, or sliced sausage
  • 30 g / 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella, optional
  • 1 scallion, sliced

Method
 

  1. If using bacon or sausage, cook it first in the pot until it renders some fat and browns slightly, then set aside, leaving the fat behind.
  2. Add the broth, gochujang, gochugaru, soy sauce, sugar and garlic to the pot. Whisk until smooth.
  3. Add the rice cakes. Simmer over medium heat 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they've softened and the sauce has reduced slightly.
  4. Add the fish cake (or return the cooked bacon/sausage to the pot). Simmer 3 more minutes.
  5. Lower the heat before adding the cream — this matters more than it sounds like it should.
  6. Stir in the cream and let it warm through for 1 to 2 minutes without letting it come to a hard boil. It should turn from red to a rounded pink-orange, not separate or look grainy.
  7. Scatter the mozzarella on top if using and let it melt in the residual heat, off the burner. Top with scallion and serve.