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At a recent get together with my bunch of girlfriends, I finally got to try the Korean Rice Cake after having seen it being served in countless k-drama. The one that we had was probably not very traditional, as it was topped with Mozzarella cheese and baked to a golden hue. Traditional or not, it had a nice chewy texture to it.
Not long after that dinner, I spotted packets of frozen Rice Cake on display at the supermarket which I frequent. Without much thought, I took home a pack but it ended lying in the freezer for weeks waiting for the day when I am in the mood to make something out of the usual menu. Fortunately, I did get to it even before the Rice Cake expired.
Because the kids are not used to taking spicy food, I decided to randomly search for recipes hoping to find one that is non-spicy. The cyberworld didn't disappoint me and it didn't take me very long to chance upon one here. The recipe looked promising from the fact that it was one passed down from generations within a Korean family. There is no way one can go wrong with that!
I made a minor tweak when cooking the beef though since I had used beef flank which is the cheapest cut available at the supermarket. Not because I was on a tight budget but rather I had discovered that no matter how bad the cut is, stir-fried beef can still turn out tender when done using the velveting method. I read some years back that velveting is how Chinese restaurants whipped up nice tender stir-fried beef and since then I never bothered to splurge on beef to be used for stir-frying.
Ingredients:
- 1 pack of Korean Rice Cake
- 350gm of beef (cut into thin strips)
- 1 stick of carrot (julienned)
- 1 medium sized onion (cut into thin wedges)
- Few stalks of spring onion (cut into 2 inches long)
- 1 teaspoon of minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon of crushed sesame seed
- Half an egg white
- Cornflour
- Light soy sauce
- Sugar
- Sesame oil
- Grounded black pepper
Preparation:
- Marinate beef for 30 minutes to 1 hour with:
- Minced garlic
- Crushed sesame seeds
- Egg white
- 2 teaspoons of cornflour
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil
- A dash of black pepper
- Soak Rice Cake with cold water and thereafter parboil for 2 minutes or until soft and chewy taking care not to overcook. Run Rice Cake under cold water after removing from boiling water.
- Mix 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1 tablespoon of light soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of sesame oil in a bowl. Set aside to be used as finishing sauce.
- Heat about 4 to 5 tablespoons of oil in wok using high heat. Add beef to wok and quickly stir-fry for 30 seconds or until the beef is nearly cooked and still showing bits of pink. Remove beef from wok and set aside. Allow additional oil to drain.
- Reheat wok with some oil and sauté onion and carrot. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add Rice Cake into the wok together with the beef. Mix well and allow mixture to cook for a minute.
- Pour in finishing sauce and spring onion.
- Remove from heat when well-coated.
Number of Servings: 5 to 6
