For my birthday final yr, deputy meals editor Hana Asbrink made a big pot of rosé tteokbokki, a cream-drunk model of the favored Korean rice truffles. Hana’s skillet was crowded with cylindrical rice truffles, pinkie-size scorching canines, and hard-boiled eggs. I squealed. I packed some deli containers to carry dwelling, promising Hana I’d share it with my companion. In actuality I solely (very reluctantly) sacrificed a number of spoonfuls and half an egg to him. Nobody may come between me and my birthday-bokki. I used to be completely bedeviled.
Rosé tteokbokki’s pandemic-era virality has been fanned by the flames of a social media panorama obsessive about rosé variations of varied meals. Rosé sauce is considered a spicy, gochujang-rich tackle tomato-cream sauce, itself an impressed (some would say corrupted) variation on Italian marinara. To me it’s a charming emblem of how meals travels internationally and morphs into new traditions. Once I started to make it for myself (as a result of, sadly, I couldn’t persuade Hana to maneuver in), I began to consider what I may use instead of tteok, an ingredient my colleagues and I like very a lot, however can’t at all times discover in each grocery retailer.
Seems, a vacuum-sealed pouch of shelf-stable potato gnocchi is an admirable stand-in for Korean rice truffles. In comparison with freshly made gnocchi, they’re doughy and dense, however on this case, that’s an excellent factor. Because the gnocchi prepare dinner, their starch gently thickens the auburn sauce, all of the whereas holding on to their form and softening right into a comforting chew. I like to consider it as a barely wonky however full circle second, a return to the vaguely Italian roots of rosé tteokbokki.
Strive to not skip the scorching canines. It’s that vivacious jus de scorching canine, achieved because the liquid boils cheerfully, that lays a basis of gutsy taste. A ten-oz. bag of frozen broccoli florets is a fast and handy different to recent broccoli with solely slightly textural sacrifice.
