Rabokki

Ramen = ramen
Ddeokbokki = spicy rice cakes
Ramen + Ddeokbokki = Rabokki

Here in Oklahoma there is a thing called Wing Wednesday (at least between me & hubby...). There is a pub grub type place a block up from us that has cheap wings on Wednesdays and it's the highlight of hubby's week lol. Turns out that is perfect because I use that as an excuse to opt out of boring pilot talk between him and his buds and make myself any Korean food that hubby doesn't particularly like. Savory mochi is apparently not a thing in Japan so hubby can't handle it. So today is rabokki day.

I actually posted a rabokki recipe last year. But I tried it again a couple of weeks ago and realized it was STILL too spicy for me despite halving the spice over the course of three different attempts. Rabokki should be a perfect combo of sweet and spicy, and I also like mine with fish cakes and lots of hard-boiled eggs. The only way I could tweak this to be better is by adding some fried sweet potato...ahhh, Korean street food...

Rating: 9/10
Why: There's a small ddeokbokki place in a market on the outskirts of Seoul that makes the best ddeokbokki I've ever had. Until I find out their secrets this can never be a 10.

Rabokki
Serves 3-4

• 1 c ddeok medallions (or the long ones)
• 2 hard-boiled eggs
• 1/2 pkg Shin ramen noodles (or use the whole pkg if you want!)
• 1 tps Shin ramen powder (or red pepper powder)
• 1/4 c onions, sliced
• 2-3 oz. fish cakes (opt.)
• 2 c water
• 1/2 Tbsp red pepper paste
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp minced garlic
• green onions for garnish (opt.)
• sesame seeds for garnish (opt.)

Directions:

In a frying pan set over medium heat, combine the water, red pepper paste, ramen powder, sugar, soy sauce and garlic. Bring to a boil. Here you can taste it to see if you want more spice (ramen powder) or more saltiness (soy sauce).

Once it starts boiling, add the onions and cook for 2-3 minutes. Then add the ddeok medallions and cook another minute or so until they are tender.

Add in the fish cakes, eggs, and noodles. Continue cooking until noodles are al dente. Serve right away and garnish with sesame seeds and green onions.

Spicy Pork Bulgogi

Over the weekend we went to a nearby town that is only 45 minutes away. It surprisingly has a lot packed into it for being fairly small, including........Korean restaurants! YES!
We went to one, coincidentally right before their lunch buffet closed. It was only $8 and I got all the banchan I could ever want. And they had the most delicious spicy pork bulgogi, it was probably my favorite.
Since then, I have vowed to recreate it. And here is my surprisingly successful attempt:

Rating: 9/10
Why: This is my rating, anyways (hubs' might be a bit lower). I was surprised at how close this recipe was to the restaurant's! I only had to add a little sugar (I made that change in my recipe below) to reach my desired sweetness (I like sweet...). But I've already had 2 servings today, and I am no meat eater. The thing that hubby didn't like was that he thought the sauce was too pasty. It's mostly red pepper paste, so that makes sense. But yes, the restaurant's was in a thinner sauce...so next time I will try to thin it out a bit.

Spicy Pork Bulgogi
Serves 4-6
Adapted from HERE

1.3 lbs thinly sliced pork
1 medium onion, sliced
3 green onions, chopped
6 Tbsp red pepper paste
2.5 - 3 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp garlic, minced
2 tsp ginger, minced
1/4 tsp pepper
2 tsp sesame oil
2 Tbsp white wine (original recipe calls for rice wine. I would recommend Korean rice syrup.)
1 tsp sesame seeds, plus more for garnish
1 Tbsp oil

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix together the pork, onion and green onions.

In a separate bowl, mix together the rest of the ingredients to make the marinade. Pour that over the meat mixture and mix to combine. Cover with saran wrap, pushing the wrap all the way down to cling to the meat. Let that marinate in the fridge overnight (or at least 6 hours).

Heat a pan with oil over medium-high. (You might want to have a splash guard ready.) Cook the meat in batches so that each piece of meat can lay flat on the pan. Turn over the pieces after about 3 minutes, and cook 3-4 minutes more until done. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve over rice.

Good Old Kimchi Soup (Kimchi Jjigae)

You have no idea how precious kimchi is to me here. The closest Korean store is 3 hours away and even if I wanted to make my own I would still need Korean gochugaru (red pepper powder), which would elicit a trip to the store anyways...and SURE there is Mexican red pepper powder I can buy here, but it's not the same! It really isn't.

So last weekend hubby and I had to make the drive to the city but it wasn't for pleasure...hubby needed to go to the hospital. But we had time to eat at a Korean restaurant where they happened to sell kimchi! (The most overpriced kimchi I've ever seen in my life, but kimchi nevertheless.) I could only convince hubby to buy me the medium sized container so I held onto that kimchi for almost a week planning on how to utilize it best...haha!

Kimchi jjigae seemed too common a dish to use my precious kimchi on, but I realized I probably haven't had it for over a year...so I bit the bullet and threw 85% of my beloved kimchi into a soup. And so worth it. Best soup ever.

P.S. I used boneless short rib meat in my soup (delish!) but I've had friends use Spam or tuna, those are both yummy. 

 Kimchi Jjigae

(Adapted from HERE)

• 1/2 lb boneless short ribs, sliced thinly
• 4-5 c kimchi + kimchi sauce
• 1T sugar
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes (gochugaru)
• 1T red pepper paste (gochujang)
• 1/4c onions, sliced thinly
• green onions (about 2T)
• 1/2 pkg tofu, sliced
• 1/2-1 tsp hondashi
• sesame oil (optional)
• water

Directions:

Place your kimchi and some of it's juice in a small pot. Add in the onion, red pepper paste, red pepper flakes, sugar, green onions, and short rib meat.

Pour water into the pot until everything is submerged. Mix together.

Heat on med-high with the lid on and let the mix boil for about 10 minutes. Then turn the heat down to medium and boil for another 15-20 minutes.

Taste and add more kimchi sauce (for spiciness & kimchi flavor) or hondashi (for seasoning) as needed. Then add the tofu and cook for another 5 minutes. 

Remove from heat and pour in a bit of sesame oil if desired.