Spicy rice cake Korean dish is iconic red-orange street food is so popular there’s an entire part of Seoul (South Korea) just devoted to the steamed and sliced rice cakes (tteok), cooked with fish cakes (oden) and scallions in a sweet and spicy sauce made of chili paste.

ingredients:

• 1 pound of cylinder-shaped rice cake, bought, or homemade. (Use a little more if you’re not adding hard-boiled eggs and fish cakes)
• 4 cups of water
• 7 large size dried anchovies, with heads and intestines removed
• 6 x 8 inch dried kelp
• ⅓ cup hot pepper paste
• 1 tablespoon Korean hot pepper flakes (gochugaru)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 3 green onions, cut into 3 inch long pieces.
• 2 hard-boiled eggs, shelled (optional) ½ pound fish cakes (optional)

Method:

• Add the water, dried anchovies, and dried kelp to a shallow pot or pan.
• Boil for 15 minutes over medium high heat without the lid.
• Combine hot pepper paste, hot pepper flakes, and sugar in a small bowl. Remove the anchovies and kelp from the pot and add the rice cake, the mixture in the bowl, the green onion, and the optional fish cakes and hard-boiled eggs. The stock will be about 2½ cups.
• Stir gently with a wooden spoon when it starts to boil. Keep stirring until the rice cake turns soft and the sauce thickens and looks shiny, which should take about 10 -15 minutes. If the rice cake is not soft enough, add more water and continue stirring until softened. When you use freshly made rice cake, it takes a shorter time. If you use frozen rice cake, thaw it out and soak it in cold water to soften it before cooking.
• Remove from the heat and serve hot.