BY LINDSEY MURAOKA / Special to the Star-Advertiser
There are many reasons why Korean dramas are popular. The intriguing storylines, the drool worthy actors — and my personal favorite, the mouth watering food!
I remember when I was in high school, the dish I wanted to try more than anything was dukbokki. The day that I finally tried the combination of chewy soft rice cakes mixed into a spicy red sauce, I swear it was love at first bite. I felt like an anime character because I was so happy that my eyes started shining as they filled up with tears of joy.
To this day, it is still one of my favorite things to eat and the reason why my friend Kelly Loui and I made dukbokki in our first ever cooking video on Youtube. So if you want to see how to make it, you can check out our video here.
This week, Kelly and I wanted to try a fusion version of the dish with a creamy carbonara sauce. This version is served at fusion Korean restaurants throughout Seoul and contains bacon, broccoli and red peppers, but we threw in some enoki mushrooms and fish cake as well. The result? A borderline addicting, creamy, rich and spicy sauce that goes beautifully with the rice cakes. Watch our video to see how we made it!
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Lindsey Muraoka blogs about food and drink for the Pulse. Contact her on Twitter or via email at foodlalablog@gmail.com.
Carbonara-Style Dukbokki
Ingredients:
» One bag Korean rice cakes (the cylindrical kind)
» Five pieces of bacon
» One cup onion
» One cup broccoli
» One packagae of Enoki mushrooms
» One red bell pepper
» One and a half pounds of Korean fish cake
» One tablespoon sliced garlic
Sauce:
» One cup heavy whipping cream
» One cup milk
» One cup water
» Two tablespoons Parmesean cheese
» Two tablespoons salted butter
» One to two tablespoons Gochujang (Korean red pepper paste), to taste
» Salt, pepper and Gochugaru (red chili pepper flakes), to taste
Instructions:
1. Take rice cakes out of package, separate the pieces and put into a bowl filled with cold water. This is to soften them.
2. Take bacon and cut into 1 inch pieces.
3. Chop up all vegetables and fish cake into bite size pieces.
4. Fry bacon pieces in a heated pan on medium high heat until crispy. Remove bacon and drain oil from pan.
6. Add butter to a heated pan on medium high heat, followed by garlic and onions. Cook for three to five minutes, or until slightly browned.
5. Add milk, cream and water.
6. Add gochujang, depending on how spicy you want it. You can also add red chili pepper flakes. Mix together.
7. Add rice cakes and let cook for 5 to 7 minutes.
8. Add all of vegetables and fish cake. Mix together.
10. Add bacon, mix together and let cook for another 5-10 minutes until all vegetables are cooked.
11. Add Parmesean cheese, salt and pepper to taste and stir everything before serving.