Chewy Korean Rice Cakes

I first discovered chewy rice cakes in the Mandu Guk soup at my favorite Korean shop, Crazy Noodle. The menu listed "rice cakes" as an ingredient in this veggie dumpling soup, and I had no idea what to make of that. I imagined crunchy, bland American-style rice cakes (Are those even American? No idea.) But I ordered the soup anyway because I love vegetable dumplings.

When I got the order, I bit into a flat, chewy disc that had the taste and texture of a fat noodle. Chewy is probably my favorite food texture. Geez, that's a statement that makes me sound like a weird foodie nerd. Y'all have a favorite food texture, right? That's normal, right?

Those little white ovals are the rice cakes in my Mandu Guk!

Anyway, I absolutely loved those little cakes, and that soup quickly became my go-to item at Crazy Noodle. The cakes are made from steamed glutenous rice flour, and they come in discs or rolls. I later found the discs — called tteok or ddeok — at my neighborhood Asian market, and I've used them in a few dishes at home. Mostly, I like to toss them in my ramen noodles.

But a couple weeks ago, my pal Amey at Vegan Eats & Treats posted the most delicious-sounding recipe using ddeok. It was a stir-fry that combined the rice cakes with tofu, asparagus, scallions, and cabbage. The sauce is made with brown sugar and Korean gochujang (a garlicky chili sauce that's a little sweeter and thicker than sriracha). Here's Amey's Delicious Dinner with Ddeok!

And here's a link to her recipe. It's super good, and I'm so glad I have one more serving of leftovers for lunch tomorrow. And there's more ddeok in my freezer to make it again!