Roasted Rice Cakes with Onions and Red Chili Pepper Sauce

We love Momofuku, especially now that the Noodle Bar has moved to a larger location where we can actually bring our friends and chat with them at a table over dinner instead of just hoping to find one or two spaces at the bar. The food is amazing, and being the devoted carnivores that we are, we enjoy chef David Chang's devotion to adding meat to every dish on the menu (with one exception).

While we hope beyond hope that Chang will eventually write a cookbook, we decided to do our best to recreate one of our favorite Momofuku dishes on our own in the meantime. Here, then, is our version of Momofuku's Roasted Rice Cakes - it's not the Momofuku recipe, but just our own attempt to make something similar at home. (Hey David Chang, if you read this - did we come close to getting it right?) It's hot and chewy and crispy and spicy and more than a bit overwhelming on the palate, in a good way.

Roasted Rice Cakes with Onions and Red Chili Pepper Sauce
1 lb Korean rice cakes
2 medium onions
A little oil for frying
1/4 cup hot water (we suspect pork stock would make a good substitute, if you have it)
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp soy sauce (or more to taste)
3 tbsp gochujang (Korean red chili paste)
1-3 tsp Korean red chili powder
1 tsp Korean anchovy sauce
Sesame seeds for garnish (optional)

Cooking instructions after the jump...

Slice the onions thinly and fry them in a bit of oil until they are lightly browned. Meanwhile, in a separate pan, fry the rice cakes until they are also nicely toasted on all sides.

Combine all the ingredients and stir-fry quickly until they come together, then serve. Use however much red chili powder you can handle - 3 tsp is probably closer to Momofuku's level of spiciness, but 1 tsp was closer to what we actually wanted to eat at home.

Garnish with sesame seeds to taste, if you like. (We don't, but it's what Momofuku does, and we know plenty of people who prefer it with the sesame seeds.)

Shopping Guide
You can pick up all the Korean ingredients Han Ah Reum Supermarket at 25 W 32nd Street in Manhattan, (212) 695-3283. We also like the gochujang you can find at Sea Land on Flatbush Avenue by 7th Avenue.