Chamchi-Cheese Tteokbokki (Tuna Melt Tteokbokki)

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Bear Hands (author): Have you ever seen this style of tteokbokki? I hadn’t before I made it.

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Hubby Bear (eater): The parts of the tteokbokki that get some color on them are the best! Bear Hands shows restraint when adding cheese to this dish, but feel free to go crazy if you prefer 🤣

Every so often a recipe emerges not from tradition, nor from careful study, but from the simple act of standing in front of a refrigerator and deciding to trust one's instincts. This is one of those recipes.

Part Korean comfort food, part diner-style tuna melt, and wholly unapologetic in its ambitions, Chamchi-Cheese Tteokbokki takes the familiar chew of rice cakes and introduces them to the rich, savory pleasures of melted cheese, tuna, and mustard. The result is surprisingly harmonious. After all, tuna melts have long understood that fish and cheese can coexist quite happily; this recipe merely invites them to travel a bit farther afield than usual.

Chamchi-Cheese Tteokbokki is the sort of recipe that reminds us why experimentation remains one of the great joys of cooking. It takes familiar flavors, traditions and applications from different culinary worlds and allows them to meet somewhere in the middle, discovering they have more in common than anyone might have expected. Rich, comforting, slightly eccentric, and entirely satisfying—it is exactly the sort of dish one invents once and then finds oneself making again and again.

Detailed recipe:

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Chamchi-Cheese Tteokbokki

Yield: 2-4

Author: Bear Hands

Something a little different than what you’re used to for tteokbokki recipes but if you like carbs or tuna melts or canned tuna or American cheese it won’t be difficult to impress yourself with this recipe. There are many tteokbokki styles in the world and this is one of mine, try making a new style of tteokbokki for you and your friends today!

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Ingredients

• 14 oz canned tuna, drained
• 32 oz tteokbokki rice cakes, short cylindrical variety
• 13 scallion stalks, cut into lengths similar to the rice cakes
• 1 medium sweet pepper, cut into matching batons
• 5 slices American cheese (I very highly recommend using Land O Lakes Yellow American Cheese if you can find it at your markets)
• - 3 slices chopped
• - 2 slices reserved for finishing
• 1½ tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon Merkts sharp spreadable cheddar
• 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 hot chili, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon shoyu
• ¼ teaspoon white pepper
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
• Oil for stir-frying
• 1 cup water, you won’t use all of it.
• Black pepper, to taste
• Fried eggs, for serving

Instructions

1. Step 1 — Get the rice cakes going
2. Heat a lightly oiled wok or skillet over high heat.
3. Add the tteokbokki and immediately begin stirring so every piece becomes coated in oil. Sprinkle over the smoked paprika and onion powder and continue stirring until evenly distributed.
4. Reduce the heat to medium.
5. Step 2 — Build the base
6. Add the scallions, hot chili, and shoyu.
7. Continue stir-frying until the scallions begin to soften. The rice cakes should likewise be softening - if they remain stubbornly firm, add water a tablespoon at a time to generate steam and encourage them along.
8. Step 3 — Introduce the tuna melt elements
9. Add the butter and tuna and stir thoroughly.
10. Mix in the mustard and the three chopped slices of American cheese. Reduce the heat to low and cover briefly, allowing the cheese to soften before stirring again.
11. Once incorporated, add the Merkts cheddar and Parmesan cheese. Cover once more for a minute or two, then stir until everything is coated in a glossy, cheesy sauce.
12. Step 4 — Finish the dish
13. Add the sweet pepper and stir-fry until it reaches your preferred level of doneness.
14. Personally, I rather enjoy leaving the peppers with a bit of firmness and freshness intact, but this is entirely a matter of taste.
15. Turn off the heat and season generously with black pepper.
16. Arrange the remaining slices of American cheese over the top and arrange the fried eggs on top. Cover briefly one final time so the cheese softens before serving.
17. Garnish with additional green onions if desired.

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