Creamy Kimchi Rice Cake Bake
I saw these ‘macaroni’-shaped tubular rice cakes at the store a few months ago and have been meaning to make something fun with them for a while and wowowow is this it. As much as I love a good mac and cheese at Thanksigiving… this is 🔥 AND it’s so much easier to pull together than mac and cheese, especially if you have a cast iron skillet handy. If you’re making this at home for a meal meal, I’d also add in more veggies like cabbage, corn, and carrots, but that’s just me. For a non-vegetarian version some bacon or chicken would also be yummm.
You’ll need:
- 1 bag of macaroni-shaped rice cakes (1.5 lbs) or cylindrical rice cakes
- 2 scallions, sliced and separate into greens and light greens/whites
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 3/4 cup kimchi, roughly chopped
- 3 fresh shiitake, de-stemmed and thinly sliced
- 1-2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 cup heavy cream or whole milk
- 1 tbsp gochujang
- 1 tsp gochugaru
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
To make:
- Soak rice cakes according to package instruction (for 10 mins according to the macaroni rice cakes)
- Heat up oil in a cast-iron skillet and sauté together scallions and garlic on medium heat until fragrant
- Add in shiitake and kimchi and sauté until shiitake is softened, feel free to add a splash of water if it’s looking too dry
- Mix in cream/milk, soy sauce, gochujang, gochugaru and let cook covered for ~5 minutes on medium-low heat. Remove lid and give it a good stir (if you’re using milk instead of cream, you may notice some curdling bits which is ok in this since it doesn’t affect the taste and texture of the dish overall, stir to loosen as much as possible)
- Mix in rice cakes and simmer covered on medium for ~3 minutes until cooked through. Adjust seasonings to taste
- Top with mozzarella and broil on high for 2-3 minutes, until cheese Is golden brown
- Garnish with scallions and serve
