Creamy Alfredo Tteokbokki Udon

Hello Everyone!

I know, I know.. It's been a while since I've updated my blog but honestly, it's been a crazy year and I just felt like I was stretching myself thin in many areas. I tend to pack my schedule a little too tight and blogging just kind of fell to the bottom of my list. I'm so sorry. I'll try to be better about updating this blog with more interesting and fun things.

But anyway, I'm here to share my creamy Alfredo tteokbokki udon dish recipe due to many requests.

Growing up in the States, Alfredo pasta was a dish that I loved to order at the TGI Friday's down the road from my house. Every time I ordered it, I regretted it after getting through a quarter of the dish. The truth is, there was just too much cheese in the sauce. But I found that in any other restaurant where I ordered this particular dish, I had the same results. I just got nauseous.

It wasn't until I tried Alfredo pasta in Seoul, South Korea that I was able to eat an entire dish. Maybe it was the Asian tastebuds? Who knows, but Korea got it right. After all, they need to adjust their recipes to the tastebuds of the people. 

It was also then that I learned to love to eat my creamy Alfredo dishes with pickles. 😂 It gets rid of that greasy, nauseous feeling. It's almost like a refresh button on your tastebuds. 

The Ingredients

3 cups of tteokbokki rice cakes

1 serving of frozen udon

1 package of bacon sliced into bite-size pieces (I also like to use sliced-up hot dogs. 5 links is a good number)

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 cups of whole heavy milk

1/3 cup of Kraft grated parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon of rice wine (미림-mirim) 

*1 spring onion chopped

1/2 a medium-sized yellow onion chopped

1 bulb of garlic minced

*1 pint of button mushroom

*cracked black pepper (crack to your preference) 

*handful of baby spinach

*-optional

Just in case, you were wondering what brand of rice wine I use. 

The Directions

Before you do anything it's important to soak your rice cakes in water to get that chewy texture. Let the rice cakes thaw out in water for at least 30 minutes before cooking. Read all the directions thoroughly before beginning.

1. Peel and mince your 1 bulb of garlic. I know it looks like a lot but trust me, the more garlic you have in it, the better it tastes. 

2. Peel and mince or chop your onion to the size of your liking. I try to mince my vegetables to hide the vegetables from my kids. 😂

3. Clean your button mushrooms and slice them.

4. Since you're already slicing all the non-greasy stuff, might as well chop up your spring onion too. 

5. Slice up your choice of meat. (Don't be afraid to use both. I just cut back the portion of the bacon and added half of the hot dogs.)

6. Get a deep stir fry pan (not shallow or else you'll be seeing some liquid oozing down the sides later) and place your choice of meat and the mushrooms into it. Stir fry everything on medium-high heat until the meat starts to brown just a little bit. 

7. Add your chopped onion and cook for about a minute before adding the minced garlic. Take another minute until you see some browning occur to the onion and garlic.

8. Add 1 cup of heavy cream and 2 cups of whole milk into the pan and give it a nice swirl. Add 1 tablespoon of rice wine and mix it in with the rest of the sauce. Let the pan come to a boil and lower the heat so that the sauce is simmering.

9. Add 1/3 cup of parmesan cheese (I tend to be conservative with the cheese and don't always use all 1/3 cup) and sprinkle it in little by little while mixing it in with the sauce. (I personally taste as I go so I don't get it to a point where it's too cheesy for my test buds.

10. Crack some black pepper over the top and mix.

11. Drain the excess water from the soaking rice cakes and slowly place the cakes into the sauce. You can add your udon in at this time as well. Mix well and if need to, increase the heat so that the sauce is still simmering. 

12. Sprinkle in a handful of spinach or spring onion and mix. 

You can turn the heat off once the udon and rice cakes are soft enough to eat. Wait 5 minutes for the sauce to thicken or just jump right in. 

Enjoy! Hope to be back again and blogging up a storm. 😂

XO,

혜원쌤

Laura