Ingredients
- 8 oz topokki rice sticks
- 2 cups anchovy broth or chicken broth (use less salt if your broth is salty)
- 1 block instant ramen/ramyon (discard the seasoning packets)
- ¼ large onion, diced finely
- 1 Tablespoon neutral oil
- 4 ounces spam or ham, cut into bite sized pieces
- 4 ounces fish cake, cut into bite sized pieces
- 2 hard boiled eggs
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
- 2 green onions, trimmed and minced
Sauce:
- 3 Tablespoons gochujang
- 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 Tablespoon gochu-garu (Korean chili flakes)
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup half and half
Instructions
Make the sauce:
- Put the gochujang, soy sauce, gochu-garu, sugar, half and half, and salt in a small saucepan over medium heat.
- Stir for a minute or two with a whisk until the sugar is melted and the sauce is smooth. Set aside.
Make the stew:
- Heat a medium pot (I used a 4 ½ quart pot) over medium heat for several minutes and then add the oil and onions.
- Stir fry for 3-5 minutes until the onions are translucent.
- Add the garlic and rice sticks and stir to combine.
- Add the broth to the pot, raise the heat to high, and bring the liquid to a simmer.
- Cover the pot with a lid, lower the heat slightly so it doesn’t boil over, and let the rice sticks cook for 3 minutes. Stir occasionally to keep the rice sticks from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
- Add the ramen noodles, sauce, hard boiled eggs, fish cake, and spam/ham.
- Cook for 3 mins, stirring occasionally to keep the rice noodles from sticking to the pan.
- Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese over the top of the stew and cook for a couple more minutes, stirring the sauce until the cheese has melted and the ramen noodles are cooked through but al dente.
- Sprinkle with the scallions and serve in the skillet and let everyone serve themselves or ladle out into a couple bowls. Serve immediately.
Notes
*You can use any kind of fish cake you find at the asian market. The korean one I used is flat and is the size of half a sheet of paper. They are packed 4-6 sheets per pack. But Japanese style fish cakes, vietnamese/thai fish balls, or Chinese Fish Tofu are all fine. They all have a mild seafood flavor and a bouncy texture.
*You can make this vegetarian by substituting the fish cakes for tofu (fried tofu cutlets would be perfect here) and maybe some wild mushrooms for the ham. Use vegetarian stock for the liquid in the sauce.
*Instant ramen noodles are not good leftovers so try and eat those up first. But rice sticks reheat well. Any leftovers can be gently heated in a covered pan over medium heat for several minutes until the rice sticks regain their chewy texture-adding a couple tablespoons of water to help loosen it up. Otherwise microwave on moderate heat for several minutes.
Keywords: hangover food, comfort food, ramen, korean, rice cake, toppoki, spam, carbs