Rosé tteokbokki

This rosé tteokbokki is a creamy, Italian-inspired variation on the popular spicy Korean street food, tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes). It’s a recent phenomenon in Korea, and the first time I even heard about it was when one of you asked: “Maangchi, do you have a recipe for rosé tteokbokki?”

I found out that idea for the “rosé” part originates from an Italian sauce that combines tomato and cream, making a thick, pinkish-red pasta sauce. For rosé tteokbokki that means adding cream to the usual spicy red ttekobokki and making it thicker, saucier, and a color between pink and orange. This gives the sauce a rich, slightly nutty, sweet, and spicy flavor. It sounded interesting! Over the next few years during trips to Los Angeles I tried it out in a few different restaurants.

After some time I developed my favorite version of rosé tteokbokki, which adds tasty bacon, some mini sausages, onion, garlic, and mozzarella cheese. The thick, creamy broth is rich but not too greasy. I cook the bacon until it’s crispy and get rid of the extra grease to keep it tasty but without the fat and grease.

I hope all of you enjoy this recipe, especially those of you who asked me about this! Because of you I developed this new recipe and I’m very happy to see my family loves it, too.

Ingredients

Serves 2

• 1 pound rice cake for tteokbokki, soaked in cold water for 1 hour
• 4 strips of bacon (100 grams), cut into bite sized pieces
• 8 mini sausages, with a few slits cut into each
• ¼ of a medium-sized onion (about ¼ cup worth), chopped into small pieces
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 green onion, chopped
• 2 hard boiled eggs, shelled

For sauce

• 2 tablespoons gochujang
• 1 tablespoon gochu-garu
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 cup whole milk
• ½ cup heavy cream
• ½ cup water

Directions

Make the sauce

1. Combine gochujang, gochu-garu, soy sauce, sugar, milk, heavy cream, and the water in a bowl. Mix well until it has no lumps and becomes orange color.
2. Set it aside.

Cook rosé tteokbokki

1. Drain the rice cakes.

2. Heat up a thick bottomed pan over medium heat. Add bacon and stir for about 5 minutes until crispy and it turns golden brown.
3. Turn off the pan and pour out the excess fat from the bacon into a small ball. Discard the fat.

4. Turn the heat on to medium-high. Add the garlic and onion to the bacon and stir for 1 minute.
5. Add the sausage and the rice cake, stirring with a wooden spoon for a minute, until the sausage splits a little along the slits.

6. Add the rice cake and 1 cup water and stir. Cover and cook for 5 minutes until the rice cake gets tender.

7. Open and add the sauce, mixing well with the wooden spoon. Cook another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

8. Add mozzarella cheese and stir to melt.

Serve

1. Stir and ladle some of the tteokbokki, egg, and broth into bowls.
2. Sprinkle some chopped green onion over top and serve right away.

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