Spicy pork with Korean rice cakes and bok choy is another quick dinner recipe you can make in 30 minutes. My high school aged son is working the dinner shift at a local restaurant and feeding him before he heads to work means I need some quick meals on the nights he works. This recipe is super flavorful and satisfying due to a few key ingredients, and it all comes together really quickly.
I know I have mentioned Korean rice cakes (tteok) in a few other recipes here like my Hot Pot and Korean Army Stew. They have the most satisfying chew to them. They are also featured in different shapes in tteok-bokki, which I really need to post a recipe for because it is so good. In this case the rice cakes round out this dish of spicy ground pork and bok choy. You can buy the rice cakes fresh or frozen at Asian markets and you just rinse them and boil briefly and they are ready to eat.
This recipe also uses some gochujang (Korean red pepper paste) to add heat, as well as some Chinese black bean sauce to add saltiness and umami. Ginger, garlic and soy also add a boost of flavor to this dish.
This dish is very simple to cook. Just brown the pork until cooked through, add the ginger and garlic and stir fry briefly. Add the soy, gochujang, black bean sauce and some water and cook that down for a bit. Add in the cooked rice cakes and cleaned bok choy and its ready to serve!
Spicy Pork with Korean Rice Cakes and Bok Choy
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground pork
- 1 lb rice cakes
- 3 cloves garlic chopped
- 2 inch piece ginger chopped
- 5 heads baby bok choy cleaned and cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1 tsp gochujang or more to taste
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 1/4 cup black bean sauce
Instructions
- Bring some water to a boil to cook the rice cakes in.
- Heat a skillet over medium heat with a tbsp of oil. Add the ground pork and cook until browned.
- Add the ginger and garlic and cook for a minute. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add the soy sauce, gochujang and black bean sauce plus 1/2 cup of water. Allow the mixture to cook for a few minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning.
- Cook the rice cakes for 2 minutes or until tender in the boiling water. Drain and add to the pork along with the bok choy.
- Taste and adjust seasoning then serve.