Spicy and Sweet Tteokbokki with Leftover Fried Foods
#LeftoverFoodRecipe #FriedFoodRecycle #FriedTteokbokki #GochujangTteokbokki #GwangjangMarketTteokbokki
Did you have leftover fried items from making fried rice bowls, and now they’ve become soggy? Don’t throw them away! You can create a fantastic ‘Fried Tteokbokki’ using these leftovers. This recipe follows the popular Gwangjang Market style, featuring a tteokbokki rich in gochujang (Korean chili paste), making it spicy and sweet. Adding soggy fried items to this tteokbokki infuses them with flavor, turning them into a unique delicacy even without their original crispiness. We’ll use minimal gochugaru (chili powder) and rely on gochujang and fish cake broth for a deep flavor base, then toss in your leftover fried goodies.
Ingredients
- Natural Seasoning Broth 0.7L (approx. 700ml water boiled with dried kelp, shiitake mushrooms, anchovies, etc.)
- Green Onion 1/2 stalk (about 10cm)
- Minced Garlic 1 Tbsp
- Rice Cakes 2 cups (approx. 300g, for tteokbokki)
- Gochujang (Korean chili paste) 3 Tbsp (generous)
- Oligosaccharide (or corn syrup) 2 Tbsp
- Soy Sauce 1 Tbsp
- Leftover Fried Foods (shrimp, dumplings, squid, etc.) – as much as you have
- Fish Cakes 2 sheets
Cooking Instructions
Step 1
First, prepare a delicious broth for the tteokbokki. Place your natural seasoning ingredients (like dried kelp, dried shiitake mushrooms, anchovies) in a tea bag or directly in a pot and boil to create 0.7 liters (700ml) of broth. Once boiling, turn off the heat and remove the solids. Then, add roughly chopped green onions and let them steep to infuse flavor.
Step 2
Now, let’s make the tteokbokki sauce. In a pot, add a generous 3 tablespoons of gochujang. Use only about 0.5 tablespoon of gochugaru (Korean chili powder) for a mild spice. Add 2 tablespoons of oligosaccharide (or corn syrup) for sweetness and 1 tablespoon of soy sauce for savory depth. You will then cook this sauce with the broth, allowing it to thicken. Since we need enough liquid initially, mix this sauce with a portion of the prepared broth and start simmering.
Step 3
Check your leftover fried items. If you have any shrimp tempura, fried dumplings, or fried squid from a previous meal that have become soggy, get them ready. While they might not be crispy anymore, they add a unique texture and absorb the tteokbokki sauce beautifully.
Step 4
Once the broth and sauce mixture begins to boil, stir in 1 tablespoon of minced garlic. Then, add the 2 cups of rice cakes. Since rice cakes can be hard, adding them at this stage allows them to cook thoroughly and become chewy as they absorb the sauce.
Step 5
Prepare the 2 sheets of fish cakes. For a Gwangjang Market style, cut them into long strips – this looks appealing and is easy to eat. While you could skewer them, simply adding them as strips works perfectly. After adding the rice cakes and fish cakes, reduce the heat to low and let it simmer gently until the liquid reduces by about half. This slow cooking allows the rice cakes and fish cakes to fully absorb the flavors of the sauce.
Step 6
When the sauce has thickened and become slightly sticky, it’s time to add your leftover fried items. Gently toss them into the pot, ensuring they are evenly coated with the sauce without breaking them apart. It’s important to mix them softly so the sauce coats them well.
Step 7
Your delicious ‘Fried Tteokbokki’ is now complete! The sauce is thick and sticky, having thoroughly infused the fried items. The key to preventing the fried items from becoming too soggy is to add them only when the sauce has significantly reduced. This way, the fried items soak up the tteokbokki flavor without becoming mushy, complementing the chewy rice cakes for a special Gwangjang Market-style treat!
Step 8
The sticky sauce on the finished tteokbokki has a deep, rich flavor, largely thanks to the generous amount of gochujang. Unlike typical tteokbokki, this recipe focuses on gochujang as the star ingredient to recreate the bold flavors of Gwangjang Market style. Usually, tteokbokki involves making broth, balancing gochujang and gochugaru in equal parts, seasoning with soy sauce, and adding sweetness with oligosaccharide. However, in this recipe, gochujang is the absolute protagonist! Enjoy this uniquely spicy and sweet tteokbokki!
