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When ddukbokgi meets ramen, magic happens: rabboki is the sweet-spicy Korean comfort food you didn't know you needed.
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What makes this dish special
Ever since I can remember, I have always loved rice cakes. If I don't have my rice cake every couple of months, I will crave it every day until I do, and mind you, I am not a pleasant person to be around until I get my fix! To satisfy my current craving, I decided to make the ultimate Korean street food, rabboki.
This dish is a spin on ddukboki, mixing spicy rice cakes with ramen! Add some spam and you have comfort food at its best. You'll want to make a big batch of this dish, trust me!
Ingredients
- Mirin: This Japanese sweet rice wine adds sweetness and depth to the sauce.
- Rice syrup: Brown rice syrup is similar to corn syrup in that both are sweetening agents; however, one is made from rice and the other from corn. If you can't find brown rice syrup, substitute it with corn syrup.
- Gochujang: A Korean chili paste that adds heat and a slightly sweet flavor.
- Black bean paste: The black bean paste is the same paste used to prepare the popular Chinese-Korean noodle dish, jja jang myun. It adds a savory, umami-rich depth to the sauce.
- Rice cakes: Rice cakes come in different shapes, including long cylindrical rice cakes and ovalettes. Typically, people cook ovalettes in soups and cylindrical shapes for stir-fried dishes.
- Ramen noodles: Make the dish heartier, and this is the reason this dish is called rabboki!
- Spam: Adds a salty element to help balance the sweet and spicy flavors.
Substitutions and variations
- Protein: You can substitute spam with bacon, pork belly, or chicken, adjusting the cooking time accordingly. You can also add tofu, fish cakes, or boiled eggs.
- Vegetables: If you want to add more vegetables, napa cabbage, watercress, bok choy, and spinach are all great choices.
Recipe
Rabboki (Tteokbokki with Ramen Noodles)
Ingredients
Sauce
- 6 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons mirin
- 1 tablespoon brown rice syrup
- 1 ½ tablespoons gochujang (Korean chile paste)
- 1 teaspoon black bean paste
Remaining ingredients
- 1 pound rice cakes
- 4 ounces ramen noodles
- 2 tablespoons oil, divided
- ½ can spam sliced
- ½ medium onion sliced
- 3 medium carrots sliced
Instructions
- Combine ingredients for sauce including water, soy sauce, mirin, rice syrup, gochujang, and black bean paste in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Cook ramen noodles until al dente. Drain and shock in ice water. Drain again and set aside.
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large saute pan. Add sliced spam and sear on both sides. Remove from pan and set aside.
- In the same pan, heat another tablespoon oil. Add onions and carrots and saute until onion has softened, about 3 minutes. Add spam and rice cakes to pan. Pour sauce and stir until well coated. Cover and let simmer for 5 minutes or until rice cakes are soft.
- Add ramen noodles and simmer for 1 minute or until warm. Remove from heat and sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Serve immediately.
Notes
Step-by-step instructions
Step 1: Make sauce
Rice cakes are the comfort food of Korean cuisine, and rightly so. They are dense, chewy, sweet, and spicy. They are great as a late-night snack, mid-afternoon, dinner, lunch, pretty much any time of the day.
You can find fresh or frozen rice cakes at most Asian stores. If you are using frozen rice cakes, soak them in room-temperature water for 30 minutes. If you're using fresh rice cakes, make sure to purchase them on the day you're cooking them, since they will dry and harden after 24 hours.
While the rice cakes are soaking, prepare the sauce. Simply, combine everything in a bowl until smooth and set it aside.
Some of the sauce ingredients for the sauce may sound foreign, but they can all be found in local Asian markets. Gochujang is a Korean chili paste; depending on the brand, some may be spicier than others. You can adjust the amount depending on how spicy your chili paste is.
Step 2: Cook stir-fry
I used fresh ramen noodles for this recipe, but you can also use instant ramen noodles. Regardless of which type you use, make sure to cook the noodles ahead of time before adding them to the stir-fry.
To start cooking, first sear the spam until lightly browned. Not a fan of spam? Try ham, pork belly, or even chicken!
You can also make this dish vegetarian and use tofu or boiled eggs instead.
Remove the spam and saute the vegetables. Then, add the spam back to the pan along with the rice cakes and sauce. Let the dish simmer until the rice cakes are tender and have soaked up that lovely sauce.
Add the ramen noodles, toss everything together, and dinner is served!
Rabboki is my ultimate Korean comfort dish. I just can't resist a bowl of ramen noodles tossed with soft, chewy rice cakes, salty spam, sweet onions, and carrots in a spicy sauce. I'm drooling just thinking about it!
If you have never had Korean food before, this dish would be a great one to introduce you to the cuisine. Go ahead, give it a try!
Make-ahead and storage
- Make-ahead: You can make the sauce up to 3 days ahead of time. Keep it in the refridgerator until ready to use.
- Store: Rice cakes harden once the dish cools, so this dish is best enjoyed fresh. However, you can store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 2 days and gently reheat them with a splash of water to help soften the rice cakes.
Frequently asked questions
Ddukbokgi is a traditional Korean spicy rice cake dish, while rabboki adds ramen noodles to the dish for an even heartier, more filling meal.
It depends on your gochujang brand, as some are spicier than others. The dish is meant to be spicy to balance the heaviness of the noodles and rice cakes.
More Korean recipes
Looking for more Korean dishes? Try these:
Lillian says
I never enjoyed spam till I had it in some Korean dishes. This sounds good and I'll try it at some point!
cma0425 says
We Koreans love our spam! You can also enjoy this dish with bulgogi instead but spam is always great in rabboki 🙂
Saucy Spatula says
Love me some rice cakes! Living in the big apple, and working near Korean Town gives me a huge advantage of eating great Korean food whenever I want. Rabboki is addicting!
p.s. Hong Kongers love our spam too! 😉
cma0425 says
If you're ever in Los Angeles, you should visit the Korea town here! It's endless blocks and blocks of amazing Korean food
Lokness @ The Missing Lokness says
Love love rice cakes! As the Italian would say, "al dente"! After watching many many K-drama, I have been craving for some Korean food recently. And with spam in this dish, I am all for it! 😉
cma0425 says
This one dish will satisfy your cravings for Korean food - it did for me!