Chewy Kimchi Fried Rice Cakes

This was the first dish I ever made for Bosco and remains one of his top favorites to date. Every time I make it, he still clears it all up. This was inspired by both Shanghainese and Korean style rice cakes. This is great comfort food for a weekday when you want to keep things simple but still packed with flavour, color, and texture. What I love about this dish is it can be cooked in just 50 minutes in 1 pot and there isn’t much to wash afterwards! If you love chewy rice cakes, kimchi, crunchy bak choy, and minced beef, you must try this dish!

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time: 25 minutes

Portion: 2 people

Ingredients:

• 400g thin oval-shaped Korean rice cakes (I recommend the above brand)
• 1 pack of kimchi (200g)
• 1 pack baby bak choy (300g) (This is the fatter and shorter version with whiter stalks- they’re crunchier than the other types)
• 1 yellow onion
• 1/3 of a ginger
• 6-7 cloves garlic
• minced beef (130g)
• seasonings: soy sauce, sesame oil, cooking wine, kosher salt, sugar, black pepper, corn starch

Timer: 0 minutes

1. Marinate the beef with (approx.):

1 tbsp each of soy sauce/cooking wine/water,

1 tsp each of grated ginger/ sesame oil/corn starch/sugar

a pinch each of kosher salt/ground black pepper

Grate the ginger so you don’t bite into little pieces

*adding the water to minced beef helps to soften it up*

Timer: 5 minutes

2. Prepare the vegetables

De-stalk, wash, and soak the bak choy. Slice the onions and ginger. Mince 6-7 cloves garlic. Roughly cut up the kimchi.

3. Fill up half a small pot with water and start to boil on high heat for your rice cakes

Timer: 20 minutes

4.  Prep the flavours

 In a non-stick pan over medium heat, heat up 1 tbsp of oil and fry the garlic and ginger until the aromas come out.

Timer: 25 minutes

5. Cook the onions until they are almost see-through and slightly golden

Add a dash of kosher salt to bring out the flavours of the onions

Timer: 30 minutes

5. Add the beef

Break apart the minced beef and fry together

Timer: 33 minutes

6. While waiting for your meat to cook, cook your rice cakes

Add your rice cakes to the boiling water

The rice cake is done once they start floating (on med-high heat, approx 2-3 mins).  Do not hesitate and immediately take them off the stove

*it’s very important to get the timing just right* It’s only a minute’s difference between just chewy and soggy rice cakes.

Pour out the water and keep them under running cold drinking water

*The rice cakes needs to be ready just in time to mix with your cooked veggies and meat.  If you cook it too early on, they will dry up and stick together, then you will jeopardize the texture of the veggies while reheating the rice cakes.  Similarly, don’t wait until too late to cook the rice cakes or else your veggies and meat will overcook while waiting for your rice cakes, resulting in a very soggy dish.

Timer: 37 minutes

7. Cook the bak choy

At this point, the meat should no longer be pink.

Dump in the bak choy.

I know looks like a lot but it will shrink away

Cook the baby bak choy until it loses around one-third of its volume (~2 minutes)

Timer: 39 minutes

8. Final step:  Add it all together

The rice cakes should still be slightly warm inside, look shiny, and not be sticking together. Don’t worry if they don’t look completely cooked, you will further cook them in meat/veggie juices.

Fry away and season with soy sauce

Lastly, add the kimchi and all it’s juices. I like to add the kimchi in last because I find cooking kimchi for a long time causes it to lose its flavors and texture.

Just let all the flavours come together.  Be careful not to overcook it as the rice cakes get soggy really easily and the bak choy will start to lose its water and crunchiness, resulting in a very soggy dish without much texture.

Finally, add a splash of sesame oil to further bring out the aromas.

Timer: 45 minutes

………………………………………………………………….

And that’s it! Scoop into bowls and serve to your loved ones.  This dish is all about the colors and textures.   The rice cakes should have taken up the bright red color of the kimchi and golden color from the soy sauce and the veggies still green and plump. The rice cakes should still be very chewy while the kimchi and bak choy still crunchy.

I really hope you guys try this and please let me know how it goes and if you have any suggestions/tips! Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it and that I have succeeded in making you hungry again ;P

Be in love with life.

Much love,

CC